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Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents KENYATTA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AGE 302: GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA DR. P.M. SINDA DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................ ii FOREWORD .......................................................................................................... vii 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 PART ONE ............................................................................................................... 2 LESSON ONE: GENERAL AFFAIRS, STATUS OF AFRICA ........................... 2 1.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Objectives ......................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Political Map of Africa ................................................................................... 2 1.4 The history of Political Map of Africa ............................................................... 4 1.5 Position, Size of Africa...................................................................................... 5 1.6 Revision Questions............................................................................................ 7 1.7 Definition of Key Words ................................................................................... 7 1.8 Further Reading................................................................................................. 8 LESSON TWO: ORIGIN AND GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF AFRICA ....9 A. Origin of the African Continent .......................................................................... 9 2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Objectives ......................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Association with the Theory of Continental Drift to the Origin of the African 9 Continent ................................................................................................................ 9 2.4 Geological Formation of Africa....................................................................... 12 2.5 Formation of the Rift Valley System ............................................................... 13 2.6 Summary......................................................................................................... 16 2.7 Revision Questions.......................................................................................... 17 2.8 Definition of Key Words .................................................................................. 17 2.9 Further Reading............................................................................................... 18 ii Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 3.0 LESSON THREE: PHYSIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS19 OF AFRICA ........................................................................................................ 19 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Objectives ........................................................................................................ 19 3.3 The Physiographic Setting and Environment ................................................... 19 3.4 River Drainage of Africa ................................................................................. 22 3.5 African Coastlines ........................................................................................... 26 3.6 Summary......................................................................................................... 28 3.7 Further Reading............................................................................................... 29 4.0 LESSON FOUR: CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF AFRICA .................. 30 4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 30 4.2 Objectives ........................................................................................................ 30 4.2.1 Climatic Characteristics, Variations, Regions and types over the African....31 Continent .............................................................................................................. 31 4.2.2 Climatic Regions of Africa ........................................................................... 35 4.2.3 Climatic Types of Africa .............................................................................. 37 4.3 Summary......................................................................................................... 38 4.4 Review Questions............................................................................................ 38 4.5 Definition of Key Words .................................................................................. 38 4.6 Reading List ................................................................................................... 39 5.0 LESSON FIVE: SOIL CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES OF AFRICA ......40 5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 40 5.2 Objectives............................................................................................. 40 5.3 Soil Characteristics Formation in Africa ................................................ 40 5.4 Soil Types, Classification in Africa....................................................... 41 5.5 Soils Types, Classification in Africa .......................................................... 45 5.6 Summary ................................................................................................... 49 5.7 Revision Questions .................................................................................... 49 5.8 Definition of Key Words ........................................................................... 50 iii Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 5.9 6.0 Reading List .............................................................................................. LESSON SIX VEGETATIVE COVER OF AFRICA ............................... 50 51 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 51 6.2 Objectives .................................................................................................. 51 6.3 Vegetation diversification in Africa ........................................................... 51 6.3.1 Tropical Rain Forest ................................................................................... 52 6.3.2 Tropical Savannah I.E. (i) Moist Woodland Savannah, (ii) Dry Woodland .54 6.3.3 Desert Steppe (Steppe and Desert)............................................................. 55 6.4 Vegetation Types Of Africa....................................................................... 56 6.5 Climate and Vegetation ............................................................................. 57 6.6 Summary ................................................................................................... 57 6.7 Review Questions...................................................................................... 58 6.8 Definition of Key Words ........................................................................... 58 6.9 Further Reading......................................................................................... 58 PART TWO: HUMAN ENVIRONMENT............................................................. 59 7.0 LESSON SEVEN: POPULATION ORIGIN, SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION.59 IN AFRICA .............................................................................................................. 59 7.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 59 7.2 Learning objectives ...................................................................................... 59 7.3 The origin, size and distribution ................................................................... 59 7.3.1 Origin of the African ethnicity...................................................................... 59 7.3.2 Population size and distribution in Africa ................................................... 60 7.3.3 People ethnicity and religion/believes within the African continent. .............. 63 7.4 Factors influencing population distribution in Africa ....................................... 66 7.5 Population Structure........................................................................................ 75 7.6 Problems Associated with a large population................................................... 76 7.7 Summary......................................................................................................... 80 7.8 Revision Questions.......................................................................................... 80 iv Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 7.9 Definition of Key Words .................................................................................. 81 7.10 Reading List ................................................................................................... 81 8.0 LESSON EIGHT: AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS IN AFRICA .................. 82 8.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 82 8.2 Learning Objectives.................................................................................... 82 8.3 Introduction to Agricultural Sector and Its Significant in Africa. ................ 82 8.3.1 Traditional agriculture in Africa .................................................................. 83 8.3.2 The significant of agriculture in Africa ....................................................... 84 8.4 Some Agricultural types in Africa ................................................................ 85 8.4.1 Forestry and Fishing ..................................................................................... 85 8.4.2 Mining ....................................................................................................... 85 8.5 Factors that Control Agricultural Distribution............................................... 86 8.5.1 Physical factors ........................................................................................... 86 8.5.2 Cultural and economic factor........................................................................ 89 8.5 Agricultural Types............................................................................................................. 92 8.6 Summary...................................................................................................... 95 8.7 Revision Questions...................................................................................... 95 8.8 Further Reading............................................................................................. 95 9.0 LESSON NINE: AFRICAN INDUSTRY AND TRADE .............................. 96 9.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 96 9.2 Learning objectives ...................................................................................... 96 9.3 The Trend of Industry and Trade In Africa .................................................... 96 9.4 Manufacturing types generally...................................................................... 97 9.5 Factors controlling the site of manufacturing industries ................................ 99 9.5.1 Raw Materials .............................................................................................. 99 9.5.2 Available Markets ....................................................................................... 100 9.5.3 Transport Networks.................................................................................... 100 9.5.4 Local Supply of Labour .............................................................................. 101 9.5.5Starting Capital ............................................................................................ 101 v Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 9.5.6 Political Policy ............................................................................................ 102 9.5.7 Operational Energy.................................................................................... 102 9.5.8 Trade.......................................................................................................... 103 9.5.9 Industrial will (inertia)................................................................................ 103 9.10 African Industrialization ............................................................................. 105 9.11 Significant of the manufacturing industry .................................................... 106 9.12 Summary..................................................................................................... 106 9.13 Revision questions....................................................................................... 107 9.14 Further Reading........................................................................................... 107 10.0 LESSON TEN: TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION IN AFRICA ..108 10.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 108 10.2 Objectives ................................................................................................ 108 10.3 Status of transport and communication in Africa...................................... 108 10.4 Background Significant of Transport and Communication network for..... 110 10.5 Summary..................................................................................................... 112 10.6 Revision Questions..................................................................................... 112 10.7 112 Further Reading....................................................................................... vi Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents FOREWORD Geography of Africa is a unit which is developed on the knowledge that was obtained from the study of Geography of East Africa (Age 203). This course (Age 302) builds on the knowledge of two components namely; Physical Environment and Human Environment. In other words, the physical realm that involve the geological structures and their origin together with resultant landforms, climatic regions, floral structures, various natural resources (e.g. water, soils) and the human realm dealing with people’s groups and their distribution patterns urban setting and origin, communication network/system, land-use categories (or classifications), trade systems, areal problems (like conflicts), respectively. vii Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 1. Introduction The course is divided into two main components known or indicated as section “A” and “B” on the course outline. Such components are as follows:1st Physical environment 2nd Human environment But before we talk on these two environmental components, we need to introduce ourselves to general affairs and their understandings on the African Continent. You must have gained some knowledge about Africa during your earlier education in Geography and History of Africa, as well through other related subjects about the continent of Africa as a region. The knowledge ought to have been gained either by class lessons, conducted by teachers or through reading some of the standard textbooks on Africa, or even through institutions attended by you as an individual. As emphasized in the course outline, you need to examine some of the key thematic and developmental themes at various spatial scales with the aim of specific (or using special) examples that are dawn from the African Continent. The course by nature is a regional in its outlook – thus a prerequisite of that of Geography of East Africa you had earlier, a core also for some geography undergraduate programmes, say for education or Bachelor of Arts students, however in a wider scale. The course outline starts with the introduction, where we need to familiarize with:(a) Course concept or objective, scope. (b) Political map. (c) Position of Africa on our earth or globe. 1 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents PART ONE LESSON ONE: GENERAL AFFAIRS, STATUS OF AFRICA 1.1 Introduction During the course of Geography of East Africa, you were introduced to the influence of East African Coast peoples, such as Arab, the Swahilis and their movements along the Coasts and Islands of East Africa as a specific region. Other historical development activities such as the Railway lines were highlighted also. This course aims to introduce learners to the physical and human components of the whole continent of Africa using the same approaches as that used to study the Geography of East, but in larger scale, (or wider perspectives), in a spatial outlook. This means considering all regions of Africa and their differential degrees both in physical, developmental adoptions. 1.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson, learners should be able to: (a) Explain how the African continent developed historically. (b) Discuss the previous and present status among the African Nations. (c) Describe the origin of the African continent. (d) Outline 1.3 Political Map of Africa In this context we want to understand the way different regimes of previous colonizers developed various regions (Northern region, East region, Central region, South region, West region) of Africa according to these regime’s economic trends. 2 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Political Map of Africa – is an old concept that followed the colonial 1.3.1 interpretations, in dividing Africa into political regions or countries, just before 1960. 1.3.2 These regions or countries were as follows:(a) Countries that were free from colonialism are: Ethiopia Siera-Leone (b) Countries that we (still) under colonialism (c) Countries that were never ruled by colonists 1.3.3 (a) According to colonialists each of the above category maintained a special separate flag colour. (b) East empire or colony had its own flag colour of the country under its regime/rule. 1.3.4. The empires or colonists that dominated Africa before 1960, are as follows:- 1.3.5 (a) British (d) Italian (b) French (e) Spain (c) Portuguese (f) Germany To-day (or at least by 1968) all countries are free. This means: East country has its own flag Flag Regime (or government) Policies (or political trend) Constitution 3 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 1.4 The history of Political Map of Africa Political map of Africa is an old concept based on the colonial interpretations, that divided the African continent into political regions/sectors or countries slightly before 1960. In this concept one would be made to understand the way different previous colonial regimes divided and developed various regions (East African Region, West African Region, North African Region, South African Region, Central African Region etc.) of Africa according to colonial interest regimes and economic trends. Dividing of such regions or countries were generally based on the following criterion as follows in a kind of category: (a) Countries that were free from colonialism:(i) Ethiopia (ii) Siera-Leone (b) Countries that were still under colonialism by 1960. (c) Countries that were never ruled by colonialism (a) According to the colonialists rule, each of the above category maintained a special separate flag colour. (b) East empire or colony had its own flag colour of the country under its regime/rule. 1.4.3 The colonialists that dominated Africa before 1960, were: (a) British (d) Italian (b) French (e) Spain (c) Portuguese (f) Germany 1.4.4. To-day (or at least by 1968) all countries are free from colonialism in Africa that is to say: East country has its own; Flag and colour 4 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Regime or government Policies or political trend Constitution or law 1.5 Position, Size of Africa Africa seems one of the huge continents on the surface of the Earth, among other Global Continents. The area is about 30.3 million km2, or 20% of the Earth’s land surface taken together. The continent of Africa extends through 72 degrees of latitude from Cape Aqulkas in the South (340 51'S) to Cape Blane in north (37o51N) in Tunisia for nearly 8,000K long. The larger part of Africa lies between Ras Hufun, northern Somali (known as the Horn of Africa – 51o5’E) and Cape Verde, in Senega (17o32’W) with a distance of about 7200km ( ). Nearly over three quarters (¾) of the African area (nearly 77%) lies in the tropics, - i.e. 23½ and 23½ latitudes north and south of the Equator. One third ( ) of the African areas is affected by cold wind belts that provide arid and semi-arid conditions of northern and Southern Hemispheres. And over 25% of the Africa area is covered by Great Wastes of the Sahara Desert north of the Equator. 5 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Table 1: Below compares Africa with other continents of our Earth. Table 1, gives comparison with other continents. Continent Area in Square Units Africa 30.3 million km Asia 17.0 million square miles Europe 4.0 million square miles North America 8.4 million square miles Central America 6.9 million square miles Australia (with N.Z.) 3.0 million square miles Oceanic 5.5 million square miles 2 % 20% Antarctica The African Continent seems like an island that connected to the since Peninsula by a narrow Isthmus, separated by the human created Suez Canal. From Spain is also cut off by the 9 mile wide straits of Gibraltar, that between morocco (in Africa) and Spain (in Europe) countries. To the North-East, Africa is separated from Arabia by the straits of Rabel Mandeb, a 20 miles of water a part within or across the Red Sea. 1.5 Summary In this lesson we have discussed the approaches that were adopted by colonialists to divide and develop the African Continent during the early colonial times slightly before the year 1960. The history of the political Map of Africa and regions or countries and the way they were categorised has been highlighted in this lesson. The position of Africa with comparison with other continents worldwide with each continents areal figures are summarised. 6 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 1.6 Revision Questions (a) Discuss the methods used by colonialists to regionalised the Continent of Africa. (b) Outline the countries according to the colonial economic trends in the Continent of Africa. (c) Describe the extend of the African Continent. (d) Explain the problems that faced by Africa because of the Sahara Desert expansion. 1.7 Definition of Key Words (a) Continent - means one of the Earth’s major constituent land-masses with the composition of sialic rocks. It rises from the oceanic floor with submerged zones known as continental shelf plus other islands around it. (b) Region - is a unit-zone on the surface of the Earth that differs by its specific characteristics from others. It must be functional with unifying force like a river basin or marketing formal. (c) Political Map - means politically organised zones with specific interests and their economic trends, political phenomena groupings etc. 7 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 1.8 Further Reading (a) Richard White (1990); Africa in Focus: A Physical, Human and Economic Geography, Macmillan Publishers. (b) Church, R.J.H., Clarke, J.I., Clarke, P.J.H., and Henderson, H.J.R. (1979); Africa and the Islands, Longman: London. (c) Hance, W.A. (1975); The Geography of Modern Africa. 8 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents LESSON TWO: ORIGIN AND GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF AFRICA A. Origin of the African Continent 2.1 Introduction This lesson explains some advanced theories that are associated with the origin of the African continent like any other continent on the surface of the Earth. The existence and spreadness of these contents to the northern and Southern Hemispheres has been described. Geological formation similarities that are associated with other Southern continents are highlighted. Rocks, provings of earlier united phenomenon are characterised. 2.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson, learners should be able to: (a) Explain some theories linked to the origin of the African continent. (b) Outline the continents that formed the Gondwanaland as one huge landmass. (c) Describe the geological structures, associated with Africa and other continents. (d) 2.3 Discuss the theory of the Continental Drift. Association with the Theory of Continental Drift to the Origin of the African Continent The Theory of Continental Drift was first put forward by a German Scientist known as Alfred Wegener in 1912, 1924. (in Richard White, 1990). A. Wegener expanded F.B. Taylor’s ideas, who had stated it in 1910, 1911. A. Wegener’s theory of 9 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Continental Drift observes the way and how a number of continents could fit together. According to this theory all the continents formed one supercontinent that was known as Pangae (Fig. I). He noted and suggested that continents do move/or drift, across the Earth’s surface and eventually these continents change their original positions. In Richard White, 1990; it states that A. Wegener’s theory involved only the continental crust, excluding the crust under the oceans. Later, this theory advanced and now it includes the Earth surface wholly, where the crustal both the rocks of the continents (Sial) and those of the oceans (Sima) are included in the theory of Plate Tectonics. In this association with the continent of Africa, A. Wegener cited an example, saying that the African and South American coastlines standing at opposite sides across the Atlantic Ocean appear to fit as if they were adjacent pieces of a jigsaw puzzle (Fig. II). This theory of Continental Drift has become one of the outstanding ideas about the origin of Africa and other continents on the Earth’s surface, known as ‘Alfred Wegener and the origin of an idea’ (Thompson, Turk, 1993). This is the idea of movement of the lighter continents on the heavier, softer rocks of the Earth’s Crust (A. Wegener, 1912, Taylo, F.B. 1910). This idea (or theory) explains that the African Continent was a part of one huge continent known as ‘Gondwanaland’. 10 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents The idea further stated that similar rock structures along the coastlines of Western Africa and Eastern South America appear to fit off the Southern Continents that formed Gondwanaland. These continents that formed Gondwanaland to the South included: (a) African (e) Madagscar (b) Australia (f) Arabia (c) South America (g) Antarctica (d) India The northern continents, forming one huge landmass that was known as Laurasia to the north were:(a) North America (b) Greenland (c) Europe (d) Asia at times known as Eurasia Further suggested ideas were that there was similar geological sequence or rock strata in: (a) The Karoo of South Africa (b) The Decan Plateaux of India (c) The Plateaux of South America (d) The Antarctica Also it has been observed that a number of small Folded Ranges in Argentina and the Falk Islands seem to be similar in structure, age to the Folded Cape Range of South Africa. Glacial Striations on rock surfaces in South Africa indicated a suggestion to the geologists that ice movement was actually not from the Antarcica zone but from some 11 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents large landmass once existed to the north –east in what presently is now being occupied by the Indian Ocean Basin (Colin Burckle, 1979). Comparing with other continents, having similar origin, Africa possesses once similarities and contrasts. 2.4 Geological Formation of Africa Compared to other major continents, the African Continent has relatively a simple geological formation, except few regions within the northern and southern sections. The continent is basically a huge continental shield comprising of the basement system complex rocks, ranging from pre-Cambrian period (about 450 million years old). Actually Africa seems similar to other small-sized continental shield zones such as:(a) Baltic shield (b) Laurantian shield (c) Brazilian shield and others. Africa has undergone several mountain building periods known as periods of orogenesis, which were warped, folded and faulted. It has been observed that some parts of Africa were folded about 1500 million years ago which were less disturbed by tectonic activity. Such parts are stable regions known as crotons. Some regions were even folded more recently (about 1200 million years ago). These regions are known as orogens or regions of orogenesis. The crotons are regions of most gold zones of Africa, diamonds, chromite, asbestors, iron, etc. 12 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents According to Read, H.H. and Janet Watson (1978), the orogen zones are regions where minerals such as Coper, Lead, Zinc and tin are usually formed. The oldest precambrian rocks do underlie the continental base which are exposed on nearly 1/3 of Africa’s surface. Very little evidence of Africa’s geological history belonging to pre-cambrian era which was followed by Palaeozoic period (i.e. late Cambrian period, ordovian and Silurian times) was known. This is because of the extensive erosional processes which swept away numerous geological remnants or fossils on the Africa’s surfaces. Although some Cambrian shales, sandstones and limestones do exist in the Sahara desert region at the moment. For example in Southern African sections the main rock series after pre-cambrian seems to be of Devonian age which include folded shales and sandstones around Cape Range Region. Some parts to the eastern, northern Coasts of Africa, the Cristalline Complexes sink in many places beneath Mesozoic and Cainozoic sediments. In most cases Cainozoic are those of Tertiary sediments which were deposited in Marginal Marine Basins. The extreme north-west, a part of Alpide folded-belt builds the Atlas Mountains. Southern end of Africa is occupied by the Cape folded-belt of Palaeozoic period in a belt zone form. 2.5 Formation of the Rift Valley System A large geological fracture from north to south in the eastern section of the African Continent is known (or defined) as the Great East African Rift Valley System. This system is characterised by Rift-Volcanics of Tertiary period including recent sediments of Quaternary period. 13 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents As an outstanding feature that was caused by internal process, the Rift-Valley is a geological formation and looks like a great crack running through the African Continent, and being the only one of its kind on dry land, registered as the largest and most impressive globally. The fracture starts from Turkey in the northern Hemisphere to Zambezi River delta in the southern Hemisphere with a length of about 6500km5 long. The length across the African Continent is about 5600km, starting from the afar depression in Eltrea to the mouth of River Zambezi in Mozambique. This Rift Valley System passes through the Dead Sea including the Jordan Valley in Israel known as the Levantine Rift. According to Colin Buckle (1978, the eastern part of Africa contains series of Rift Valley Systems which form a number of interconnected troughs. Within troughs lie most of East Africa’s Lakes, with an exception of Lake Victoria – a down-warping physical feature. In the Rift Valley floor, as well as on either sides there are a number of volcanoes, although to-day most of them are extinct. In a number of sources it is indicated that the Rift Valley may be divided as follows:(a) Ethiopian Rift – from the Afar depression to Lake Turkana (b) Eastern Rift – through Kenya, Tanzania with branches of Lake Eyasi and Kavirondo Gulf. (c) Western Rift, - from Lake Mobutu, Lake Tanganyika. (d) Malawi Rift, including Lake Malawi and Shire Valley. (e) Urema trough of Mozambique and the Luangwa Valley of Zambia, at times regarded as a section of number ‘d’ above. These rift have an average width of about 50km and the average height of the limiting (or bounding) scarps stands at about 600m. 14 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents However, it has been observed that from one part to another usually are large variations both in the width and the trough’s depth. For example the Eastern Rift (through Kenya) the width is up to 100m only. The bounding Aberdare Range, that forms the eastern wall do rise to over 2000m above the main valley floor. To the south in northern Tanzania, the rift faulting nearly disappears, where the scarps do not rise above 100m. Within the western Rift Valley these contrasts are even bigger, where for example Mount Ruwenzori, regarded as a block mountain within the rift do rise above 5000m. Far south the floor of Lake Tanganyika falls (or drops) to about 650m below sea level. Studies indicate that the nature of the escarpments do vary greatly within the same zone from each side of the rift to the next. For instance the Zairean side of Lake Mobutu, the rift is almost twice as high as the Uganda side. For some sections the edge of the rifts are bounded by a single fault, but usually there is a system of many faults that produce stepped escarpments at the side. For example the stepped faulting system has been noticed at the base of the Kedong Scarp, to the south-west of Nairobi within the Eastern Rift. On the western side of Lake Malawi Rift, as well occur parallel step faults that form gentle profile than that of the eastern side (Colin Buckle 1979). To the north-east side of Lake Malawi, rises steep from that level of the lake within the scarp of the Livingstone mountains over 2000m above the Lake Surface. 15 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Although the scarps usually rise to favourable heights but they only represent fraction of the actual depth of the troughs (Colin Buckle, 1979). Some observations/or study examples indicate the following: For millions of years since the rift’s formation there have been infilled by outpourings of molten rock and immense thicknesses of sediments. Depth of infilling are usually more than a single kilometre. Huge volcanic rock flows like Mbaruk and the Kirikiti Baselts have filled the Eastern Rift of Kenya. Here the floor is nearly 1800m above sea level around Lake Naivasha. Volcanic infilling has appears within the Ethiopian Rift and also within the Western Rift, north of Lake Kivu. Great alluvial sediments are deposited within the troughs. Observations indicate that in places the original floor seem to be below sea level. Tertiary and Quarternary sediments within Lake Mobutu rift are more than 1500m in depth. Differences in infilling of sediments indicate that some section of the trough floor may be lower than other sections of the trough. 2.6 Summary In this lesson, you have learnt: Theories that are associate with the origin of the African Continent. Existence and spreadness of continents both to the southern and northern hemispheres. Geological evidence and similarities associated with early untied continents. Geological formation of the African Continent in General. The Great East African Rift Valley System, and its extend. 16 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 2.7 Revision Questions (a)(a) Define the term ‘Gondwanaland’ (b) Explain the way you understand about the continental Drift (c) Discuss the prove that show that Africa was associate with other Southern Continents. (d) Briefly describe the East African Rift Valley formation 2.8 Definition of Key Words Continental Drift: The hypothesis indicating that landmasses have changed their relative positions – possibly moving apart of an original larger land mass. Shield zone: Rigid mass associated with pre-cambrian rocks that remained relatively stable during early periods of Earth history. Rift Valley: A trough or graben between parallel faults, with throws in opposite directions – forming steep-sided, flat-floored valleys. Basement Complex: Mass of ancient igneous and metamorphic rocks of precambrian times, underlying stratified sedimentary materials/rocks. 17 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 2.9 Further Reading 1. H.H. Read and Janet Watson (1979): Introduction to Geology Vol. I and II – Part I and II: Early Stages of Earth History/Later Stages of Earth History. 2. A.T. Grove (1971): Africa, South of the Sahara. 3. Colin Buckle 91979): Landforms in Africa. 4. W.J. Minns (1993): A Geography of Africa. 5. Richard White (1990): Africa in Focus, A Physical, Human and Economic Geography. 18 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 3.0 LESSON THREE: PHYSIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICA 3.1 Introduction This lesson provides the physiographic setting of the African Continent and the general nature of the surface. The lesson characterises various surfaces which are associated with geological structures or formations that produce different plateaux and uplands on the continent of Africa. The Coastal lining and its nature has also been highlighted plus various Coastal types around the continent. 3.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson, learners should be able to: (a) Describe the general physiographic features of Africa. (b) Discuss various surfaces associated with the geological structures on the African Continent. (c) Characterise the nature and types of the Coastline of the African Continent. (d) Describe the drainage system and associated relief surfaces on the African Continent. 3.3 The Physiographic Setting and Environment The physiographic setting and the surface nature of the (a) Describe the general physiographic features of Africa. 19 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (b) Discuss various surfaces associated with the geological structures on the African Continent. (c) Characterise the nature and types of the Coastline of the African Continent. (d) Describe the drainage system and associated relief surfaces on the African Continent. Depends on the underneath of the geological formation – thus the characteristics of the geological set-up of the entire continent. Large geological features were caused by the tectonical movement or internal processes and were modified by external or erosional processes grouped into two categories or scales. The large prominent examples are as follows:(a) Large depressions. (b) Folded mountains. (c) Faulted high peaks and mountains. (d) Extensive plains and plateaux 2. The minor examples are as follows:(a) Big river basins. (b) Major hills. (c) Expand swamps. (d) Large lake basins. And because of such natural set-up, according to A.T. Grove (1970), the African Continent is divided into two surface heights namely: (a) High Africa. (b) Low Africa. High and low sections of Africa are divided by a line trace contour of 1000m from Luanda in Angola to Asmara depression in Eltrea – north of Ethiopia (Fig. IV) 20 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Mainly, High Africa is dominated by large and high plateau/Uplands and plains standing (or found) between 1000m and 2000m high, while low Africa the plains mostly are found between 160m and 660m high. Some zones within High Africa do rise above 2000m high. Some examples include:(a) Lesotho Highlands (Over 3800m). (b) The Aberdare Range (Over 4400m) (c) The Mutumba Mountains (Over 4930m) (d) The Ethiopian Highlands (Over 5050m). (e) The extensive Nyika zone plateaux (Over 2700m). (f) The Cherangani Hills (Over 3500m). (g) Ruwenzori Mountain (Over 5585m). (h) Kilimanjaro Mountain (5895m). (i) Mount Kenya (5199m). (j) Mount Elgon (Over 4200m). Some of them rise as uplands and mountains like Islands from the surrounding plains. Low Africa a part form the Atlas Mountains (4165m), lies below 1000m, but large depressions such as Libya, Chad, Mauritania are found below 300m high. Large basins and boring plains do surround Low Africa. Those which rise like Islands, Mountains from the main surrounding plains of low (or Sahara) Africa include:(a) Hoggar (Over 3000m) (b) Jebel Marra (3300m) (c) Tibesti (3800m) 21 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents They form a discontinuous upland arc of about 2700km long, bisecting the Sahara zone latitudinally. The Atlas Mountains is nearly extensive as the Ethiopian Highlands contain chains between 1800m and 2500m high. The High Atlas in Morocco stretches for about 400km at an altitudes ranging from 2000m to 4000m high. Other mountain zones within low Africa included:(a) Cameroon - (b) Guinea Highlands - Mandara Peak (4100m). Nimba Peak (Over 1750m) Other physiographic setting of Africa include:(a) Horizontal distribution of land surface – mostly plains and plateaux. (b) Vertical distribution of Mountains, Ranges, Chain Systems. (c) Rivers and associated catchment zones or basins. The extensive low plains, including the plateaux zones and steep slopes do drop to the Indian Ocean basin, extending inland up to Zambezi, Limpopo river valleys and Luangwa depression in South Africa. The interior depressions (Or basins) such as Okavanga and Kalahari Desert are found below 1000m. 3.4 River Drainage of Africa According to Colin Buckle (1979) and other authors, the drainage patterns of the African Continent have been greatly affected by ‘basin and swell’ nature of Africa’s surface with the accompaniment of Africa’s main rivers that reflect such an effect. A number of these rivers such as River Nile are very old which were formed on the African surface about 65 million years ago during the Eocene times. 22 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Since then river Nile has undergone (or experienced) numerous changes even if it has always flown to the north (Colin B. 1979). It has been noted that during Pleistocene pluvial times the zone presently occupied by the Swampy Sudd, around Juba-Khartoum area belonged to a vast Lake which was known as Lake Sudd during those times. Sources indicate that Lake Sudd drew its waters from ancestor rivers that formed the present White and Blue Niles. And eventually the White and Blue Niles over lopped the basin’s rim and started flowing to the north, joining the Mediterranean sea passing through Sabaloka Gorge in the north of Khartoum City. Shore deposits show that some lakes might have been formed along the former Nile course between Khartoum-Malakal zone. This is evidenced by the present rivers, having some lake sediments which were earlier deposited here. Such ancient lakes in size and length were as large as the present lakes such as Tanganyika, Malawi, etc. Presently the rivers that dominate the entire northeastern section of Africa are the tributaries of river Nile such as the Blue Nile, the Sobat, the Atbara. As it is observed form the topo map of Africa the above river Nile tributaries mainly drain their waters from the lower northwest, eastern and southeasten slopes of the Ethiopian Highlands. Some of them like Sobat and the Blue Nile, because of the topographic nature of the eastern Ethiopian Highlands are characterised with series of falls and rapids before they join the eastern low plains of the river Nile (Fig. …..). 23 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents According to Colin Blue (1979), the three rivers maintain tremendous erosive power that is evidenced by large amounts of silt which have been deposited along the lower and huge delta of the river Nile. Africa has a number and famous rivers and it ranks among the world’s largest rivers. But mainly it is drained by five major rivers, which have sources within the high zones or highlands of Africa. They are:(1) River Congo, (2) River Nile, (3) River Niger, (4) River Zambezi and (5) River Orange. Both in size and basins, these rivers are complex and they are longer than 1000km in distance. About 75% of African rivers drain in humid zones, where about ½ of Africa is usually drained by the said five rivers. Some rivers like the Nile and Niger drainage systems derive from the amalgamation of several systems during the Cainozoic Era. In contrast river Congo has a more well defined basin and compact. River Zambezi and some of its tributaries for example pass through interior swampy basins on the plains of High Africa before they descend to their large lowland along the Coastal zone of the Western Sections of the Indian Ocean. However, J.M. Pritchard (1979), indicated that the drainage systems of the African Continent falls into three groups or categories in a ranking river categories namely (Fig….). I. Main drainage systems with rivers: 1. River Nile 2. River Congo 3. River Niger 24 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 4. River Zambezi 5. River Orange II. Regional drainage systems:1. Maghreb region 2. Western region 3. West Equatorial region 4. Southwestern region 5. Southern region 6. Southeastern region 7. Eastern region III. Basins of internal drainage systems:1. Lake Turkana 2. Okavanga Basin 3. Lake Chad IV. With no specific drainage systems:1. Sahara zone 2. Northeastern zone Considering those (Category I) with sharp contrast to these complex continental rivers which are spread over the interior large plains of Africa before they descend to their respective oceans, also there are the short simple drainage basins of the continental margins. And this possibly what Colin Buckle (1979) categorised as ‘regional drainage systems’. Rivers belonging to this category maintain less than 650km long and the nature or cause of these rivers are basically linear and at right angles towards the Coastline. 25 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents The African Continent drainage system also comprises numerous large and small lakes, where some wide and deep like Tanganyika, Malawi, etc. some are shallow like Chad, Victoria, etc. Fairly, a number of African lakes in form and nature are associated with the Great East African Rift System. Some lakes are human-made like; Nasser, Kariba, Volta, Niger, etc. 3.5 African Coastlines Compared to other Continents like North America, Europe, Asia Africa’s Coastline has a smooth outline in nature and fairly a short Coast in length. But in few places it is broken by some rivers estuaries with limited deep inlets (J.M. Pritchard 1979; W.J. Minns 1984). It is noted that the African Continent has been uplifted, therefore there are few extensive or wide Coastal low-plains. The nature of the African Continental shelf is considerably shallow and slopes gently towards east, west, south mainly. Such a Coastal nature affects the formation of adequate and proper natural harbours which are not many in the Africa’s Coastline W.J. Minns, 1984). However, there are few Africa’s Coastlines that are not completely smooth ones such as the West African Coast which has a number of gaps and marks with the sea stretching further inland where rivers here seems to be greatly deep. There are notable African Coastlines such as the low-plains of Mozambique, northern and northeast Kenya, southern Somalia, Senegal, Mauritania and few others. 26 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents The surface nature along the African Coast do range from high cliffs in the north and south to sand bars, lagoons of the west and the eastern coral reefs. In some places mangrove swamps change with drowned river’s valleys. Along some Coasts are found old beaches that stand in a raised form high above the usual shoreline, indicating the previous higher sea level. The African continental shelf is a little wider in the Gulf of Gabes (East of Tunisia, 10 L.E.). The depths here are less than 200m, extending up to about 400km from the shores and up to about 249km out from the South African coast on the Aghulas Banks (at times C. Agulhas – the Southmost point of Africa, at 20 L.E.) In general the African Continental shelf is comparatively narrow. It has less than 50km, but some places like off Natal, Angola, etc., the Coastal zones do not exceed 5km wide. The total length of the African Cost is about 27,000km, which is a half of the Asian Continent Coastline. The African Coasts are usually low and sandy, with few good natural harbours, as indicated earlier. But where downwarping or local faulting and sinking has taken place, then there are productions of deep inlets like that of Freetown in Sierra Leone and Mombasa in Kenya. Deep river estuaries are usually few, but only rivers Gambia and Congo can be cited as outstanding examples of Africa. Some of them include: (a) Work of waves. (b) Tidal currents 27 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (c) Land’s height along the Coast (d) Geological formation or nature of the rocks along the Coast (e) Relative sea level movement effect – if any. (f) Regional Climatic Conditions/Regimes (g) Effect of human activities along Coasts 3.6 Summary In this lesson you have learned:a) The physiographic setting of the African Continent. b) Characteristics of various surfaces of Africa associated with their geological structures and examples (Major/Minor). 3.7 3.8 c) Drainage patterns and distribution systems. d) Coastline characteristics – i.e. nature, types, extends etc. Revision Questions (a) Describe the major and minor physiographic surfaces of Africa. (b) Explain the association of geology and that of surface layout. (c) Discuss the drainage systems of low Africa. (d) Explain what a Regional Drainage System(s) is. (e) Describe any two factors that influence the Coastline of Africa. Definition of Key Words Physiographic: Depiction or describe of surface nature or physical features on a given topo-map using standardized systematic applicable appearances and causal relationships. 28 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Geolgoical Structure: Rock layout in the Earth’s crust. Horizontal rock arrangements and disposition from the centre of the Earth. Drainage Pattern: Actual arrangement of the main river and its tributaries (System or net-work). Drainage System: Discharge of water from a zone through a system of natural streams of a single river system. Continental Shelf: Gently sloping margins of continents, submerged below sea /ocean. Coastline: Edge of the land and water masses or line reached by the highest storm waves or the high-water points. 3.7 Further Reading 1. A.T. Grove (1970): Africa, South of Sahara, 2nd ed. 2. Colin Buckle 91979): Landforms in Africa 2nd version. 3. W.J. Minns (1984): A Geography of Africa, New ed. 4. Richard White (1990): Africa in Focus; A Physical, Human and Economic Geography. 29 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 4.0 LESSON FOUR: CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF AFRICA 4.1 Introduction This lesson provides the general characteristics of the climatic conditions of the African Continent. A number of factors such as ITCZ with associated trade winds, relief diversification, large expanses of land-water masses, position which make climate vary or change from place to place within the African Continent are explained. Different climatic types and their distribution over Africa have been described. Various climatic zones, based on horizontal, vertical order are briefly highlighted. 4.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: (a) Characterise the climatic regimes of Africa. (b) Describe factors that control climatic changes over the African Continent (c) Explain different climatic regions of Africa. (d) Draw a map indicating major climate zones of Africa. 30 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 4.2.1 Climatic Characteristics, Variations, Regions and types over the African Continent Climatic Characteristics Over ¾ of Africa’s surface within the tropics Africa do not have great temperature contrasts like Europe, or Asia and North America (A.T. Grove, 1971). This means that for other continents the climate can be explained by the influence of air masses of different temperatures. But Africa to explain its climate is rather difficult, since it is the most tropical of all the continents, within the tropical. This is because of different and isolation of regions plus large expanses of desert and rain forest zones that diversify the climatic conditions over African continent. In Africa regional differences in river regimes, vegetation, land-use may be explained (primarily) in terms of the variation from place to place in the amounts and seasonal distribution of the rainfall. Such a variation depends on the atmospheric circulation. The climatic characteristics of Africa can be explained by the movement of air masses that vary from one another in the amount of moisture and their relative stability rather than in their temperatures. Air masses in Africa come into contact along a broad ill-defined convergence zone that moves across Africa in response to temperature and wind changes – i.e. the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) (Fig. V). Metrologists have given the characteristics of this zone as of a frontal zone similar to those found in Europe and North America. The movement of such air masses accompanied by other factors produce or give rise to climatic variations over the African Continent, as highlighted in the next section. 31 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 4.3.2 Climatic Variation The African climatic variations are as follows: A. THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE S SUMMER (CLIMATIC CONDITION) (i) Temperatures Summer period (January) the sun intensively heats the southern part of Africa where temperatures rise between 220 and 270C with extreme of 320C and above (in what is called Bushman land). This period the northern part of Africa is cool, having mean temperatures of 100C in regions such as the Atlas but it increases to 15.50C in Northern Sahara area. (ii) Pressures: From November to April the big isolation over Southern Africa causes low pressure conditions in this part. But high pressures does develop over the cooler south Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Over a cooler North Africa high pressure develops, which is separated from that of continental Europe by a low pressure system over the relatively warm surface of the Mediterranean sea. (iii) Winds: Usually the pattern of wind or air movement over much of Africa is towards the Equator, from the North-East in the Northern hemisphere and from South-East in the Southern hemisphere. The two floods of air are derived from sub-tropical cells of high pressure where air is descending and is consequently warm and dry near the surface. Here, the descending air in each hemisphere diverges to flow towards the equator and towards the pole. And because of the Earth’s rotation this air is diverted to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the Southern hemisphere. It is even recently when the main explanation was given for the seasonal occurance of the rains and total arrangement of the climatic zones within the tropical Africa. This was based on the Inter-Tropical Front 32 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (ITCZ) which is usually formed by airstreams that move to lower latitudes from northeast and south-east (Fig. VI). After coming together the south-easterlies swing round and becomes southwestelies and the north-easterlies likewise which becomes north-westerlies, when crossing the Equator. This Front (ITCZ) lies, across the African Continent in July each year stretching from Senegal to Eritrea, then shifts south as the sun moves towards the Tropic of Capricorn until January, bringing rains along the Guinea Coast. The ITCZ this period (January) swings far to the south – stretching across Southern Africa especially within latitude 180 South. These winds from the north high pressure zone penetrate Southwards through the interior of Africa towards the low pressure zone of the south. High pressure over the South Atlantic and the south-westerly monsoons oppose their progress in the west. Along the eastern Coast the North-East Trade and Asiatic monsoonal winds also penetrate southwards to converge with easterly trade winds and Atlantic-westerlies into the low pressure system of the south. It is believed that rain occur in association with the front which is connected with the humid air along or around the Equator. (iii) The ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone follows the West African Coast, bends south-wards through the Cameroons and Congo, then eastwards through Botswana and the Mozambique Coast. (iv) Air Masses: The Sahara region, West Africa, northern Congo are influenced by dry, stable air. A half of eastern Africa receives similar dry, air from Arabia borne by the north-east trades. Towards the south-east this air mass picks (or has picked) up moisture over the 33 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Indian Ocean and becomes warm and moist-Figure . Easterly trade winds bring similar air to Madagascar, the Natal Coast and the eastern Vield. Warm, moist, generally unstable air affects most of the Western Coast south of the Equator. While in the Maghreb region of the north-west coal, moist unstable air masses are brought by westerly air streams. B. THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE S SUMMER (i) Temperatures: On the large land mass of Northern Africa when the sun is overhead between the Equator and the tropic of cancer, rises temperatures to over 380C in the Sahara for example. While, Western, Central Africa by this time occur mean-temperatures between 15.50C and 26.50C but in South this is cool with temperatures of about 15.50C (ii) Pressures: A large zone of low pressure exists throughout the Sahara and Arabia which is broken by occasional minor zones of high pressure on cool Ethiopian Highlands. This time a high pressure of concentration lies over South Africa to the South of Cameroon. (iii) Winds: South-East Trade winds of South Atlantic move across the equator. These winds are drawn in across the Coast of West Africa by the low pressure zones of the Sahara which becomes powerful South-West monsoonal winds heavily laden (loaded, burdened with) with moisture. The north-east trades retreat to become a weak zone of winds affecting Africa north of Cancer. This time most of eastern and Central Africa is affected by easterly trade winds from the Indian Ocean while variable winds associated with the anti-clockwise 34 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents movement around the South African high and with the low pressure systems off the southern Coast, affect Africa South of Capricorn. (iv) The ITCZ: The zone lies this time between the weak north-east winds and the strong south- west monsoonal region It extends in almost straight line east-west from the Coast of Mauritania to the Red Sea shores of the Sudan. (v) Air Masses: When Africa north of the ITCZ is under the influence of warm, dry air masses, warm, moist air brought by the south-west monsoons passes over the whole of West Africa, penetrating as far as the Ethiopia Highlands to the east and warm, moist, unstable conditions vary favourable to turbulent (violent, disorderly, uncontrolled) conventional (convey of heat, movement of heated substances). Warm, most air also approaches from the south-east moving in over the Mozambique and East African Coasts. The Southern part of the continent is affected by cool, moist unstable air brought by depressions. The conditions described above are the extremes when the sun is at its extremities in the northern and southern hemispheres. Throughout the year as the sun and its heat move over the continent between the tropics, the pressure belts respond and the wind systems weaken or increase in strength bringing with them associated air masses. 4.3.3 Climatic Regions of Africa The Encyclopaedia (2005) indicate that Africa in general has the most uniform climate than any other continents. 35 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Why is this? This is because of the African continent’s position within the Tropical Zone, with the impact of cool ocean currents and within the continental major plateau zones, there are no prominent mountain chains that could act as climatic and weather elements barriers, as well as controlled by other factors (Fig. VI). Such climatic regions include:- Region I: The Tropical (Equatorial) Climatic Region – includes central parts of Africa and the eastern Coast of Madagascar and parts of Guinea. Here there are rainless months with the average annual rainfall of up to 1,780mm, and average annual temperatures of about 26.70C. Region II: Northern Rainforest Climatic Region is characterised by summer month’s wet seasons, and dry winter month’s seasons. The average annual rainfalls vary from 550mm to more than 1,550mm -(at times known as tropical savannah climate region). But to the extreme north/south drier parts the average annual rainfalls vary form about 250mm to 500mm, concentrating in a single rain season. Region III: Southern Rainfall Climatic Region – i.e. characterised as No. 2 above. Region IV: Arid/Desert Climatic Region – i.e. the Sahara, the Horn of Africa, the Kalahari, Namimbia have an average annual rainfall of less than 250mm. In Sahara for example, the daily and seasonal extreme temperatures are enormous. For incident, July temperatures are more than 320C in the cold season. Nights here temperature do drop below freezing point during cold seasons. Region V: Mediterranean Climatic Region – i.e. in north-west of Africa. The climate here is characterised as mild, wet warm winters, and usually dry summers. 36 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Region VI: The East African Highland Climatic Region – i.e. including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The average annual rainfall range from 500mm to over 1800mm. With an exception of lower plains where the rainfall amounts are usually less than 500mm – mainly within the interior of East Africa. However, rainfall amounts are well distributed throughout the year naturally in most parts of the region. Temperatures do not vary greatly, except within low lying plains in comparisons. Region VII: Southern African High Plateau Climatic Region – characterised by temperate climate regimes. 4.2.3 Climatic Types of Africa Climatic types to zones, belts that were advocated by some of the climatologists like Dr. Wladimir Köppen (1918), A.N. Strahler (1965), who tried to classify climatic zones of the world using a number of factors such as latitude, weather elements, altitude, etc. A.N. Strahler (1965) for example expressed that climate like other environmental components (soil, vegetation etc.) is classified according to latitudinal arrangements on the surface of the Earth from the equator to both polar regions. But for various sub-types of climate, other factors like position, local relief, distance form water/land masses, local/areal water masses can be used for climatic classification types. According to latitudinal arrangements, the classification types of Africa fall under:- 37 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (a) Equatorial climatic type – with sub-types. (b) Tropical climatic type - (c) With sub-types Temperate climatic type - With sub-types 4.4 Summary This lesson has explained the general characteristics of the climate of Africa. Factors that control the climatic conditions are also described. The climatic variations and their regional examples have been highlighted together with some weather elements, differing from place to place. 4.5 Review Questions (a) With sketch diagram explain the NE and SE trade winds and their effect on the climate of Africa. (b) Describe at least four major climatic regions of Africa. (c) List five factors that control the climatic conditions of Africa. (d) Describe the winds that operate on the African Continent during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. (e) Draw a sketch map showing climatic regions of Africa. 4.6 Definition of Key Words (a) Climate Sum total of weather elements which characterise average, extreme atmospheric conditions. (b) Meteorology - The scientific study of weather processes for the purpose of forecasting using related information. (c) Air Mass - Homogeneous mass of air that extends over a large territory with special characters in humidity and temperature in a limited zone, originating from a source region and moves equally both with upper – lower limits. 38 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 4.7 Reading List (a) Suggate, L.S. (1956): Africa, George G. Harrap and Co. Limited. (b) A.T. Grove (1970): Africa: South of Sahara. (c) Richard White (1990): Africa in Focus; A Physical, Human and Economic Geography (d) Church, R.J.H.; Clarke, J.I. Clarke, P.J.H., and Henderson, H.J.R. (1979): Africa and the Island. Longman: Longman. 39 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 5.0 LESSON FIVE: SOIL CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES OF AFRICA 5.1 Introduction This lesson introduces the learners to the soil characteristics of Africa. Soil types and associated geological formation are briefly discussed. Some main soil determining factors that contribute to the soil characteristics within different regions of Africa are highlighted. 5.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson learners should be able to:- (a) Describe the major soil types of Africa (b) Explain the factors determining soil distribution over the continent of Africa. (c) Draw a sketch map showing major soil types of Africa. 5.3 Soil Characteristics Formation in Africa According to A.T. Grove (1970), the soils of Africa vary greatly and this makes it difficult to give a summary on the soils characteristics except the general account. However, African soils do develop in similar conditions like those in other tropical areas like Australia, Peninsula India and Brazil etc. Compared to the wheat plains of Ukraine and parts of North America, Africa do not have that very productive soils like the chernozems which develop and occur in cool sub-humid climate under the vegetation type of tall and mid grass prairies of those zones (North America, Central Europe etc.). 40 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Also in Africa there are no large irrigated low plains like those found in IndoGange’s lowlands to the north of India But Africa has few places as the lowlands of the Nile Valley, parts of Niger and Chad basins, flat bottom valleys of Tanzania and Zambia. 5.4 Soil Types, Classification in Africa Within the African Continent and also globally soil formation depends on soil forming agents of: (a) Parent rocks. (b) Climatic conditions of a given area (c) Organic matter (d) Relief of an area In this case the parent rock plays an outstanding role in soil formation in any area on the earth. Therefore the soil types in Africa are formed and distributed according to the rock formation or in other words depending on the geological formation in various regions. In Africa there are about five soil groups (sometime referred as soil types) as follows:(a) Laterite and latosolic soils. (b) Red loams. (c) Dark Grey and Black soils. (d) Desert Soils. (e) Other types or groups like caternary systems or complexes. 41 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (a) Laterite and Latosolic soils are usually developed in Equatorial and partly savannah areas of Africa and other similar zones. More examples occupy the northern parts of Congo Basin, Madagascar and in patches to the Western coasts of Africa. These are heavily leached soils containing salts and silica. Most of their horizons have much aluminium plus iron oxides with reddish colour. When exposed immediately it is soft but as it is heat by the sun it sets brick-hard structures. Aluminium minerals usually dominate other surface minerals. (b) Red loams – This type is also found mostly in tropics occupying or developing on rolling and dissected landforms originating granites or sandstones as parent rocks. This type/group develops in humid savannah areas which are not heavily leached. The colour is dark-red to brown usually fertile enough rich in ferrous oxides and silica. On soil maps this type is identified as reddish-brown, reddish cluesnut, brown soils. It occupies or found or develops on high areas as on Ethiopian plateau, high central parts of South Africa including Orange Range, central part of the Atlas Mountains. 42 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (c) Dark Grey and Black Soils – develop on flat plains on dark-coloured igneous rocks. These are heavy textured soils with lime content especially in top horizons. These are heavy textured soils with lime content especially in op horizons. They dry and crack during dry seasons, and stick easily. In East Africa and particularly in Kenya they are known as Black clays (grumosolic soils) or Black cotton soils that classified by UNESCO as Uley soils. They develop in low-lying plains known sometimes as cotton lands such as Mwea area in the South of Mount Kenya, Kano plains around Lake Victoria, Athi River plains East of Nairobi and in places these soils appear in patches in depression-like structures. (d) Desert Soils – This type has no leaching capacity because the climatic conditions in such areas. The upper horizons are usually thin, stony or sandy. The colour is yellowish – grey to reddish brown having no humus with high lime content. These soils originate from Aeolian aerials which don’t relate to any rock as they are formed or developed within alkaline conditions; especially in places where water has evaporated in pans and leaves thick accumulations of minerals as those areas of northeastern parts of Kenya. (e) Other types/groups; as catenary systems or complexes – (Minor soil types) These are brown earths which are dark brown in colour, loamy to sandy. In this type there are also the Rendizina and Terra Rossa soils developed on the northern low slopes of the Atlas Mountains, and other Island-like hills in or within the Sahara Desert. 43 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents They are defined as reddish residual clay soils rich in iron materials that accumulate in depressions in limestone countries or areas or regions under a semi-arid or summer drought conditions like in Mediterranean region, Yugoslavia country, Southern Italy region, and limestone countries in Britain. (ii) There are other minor soil types called sometimes as mountain soils which are on various soil maps indicated mainly on the high altitudes or on top peaks. About ½ of all the land area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricon lies in the continent of Africa/J.D’Hoore, 1964). Therefore soil classification of Africa should be fairly representative of the intertropical belt. Several attempts to classify tropical soils have been made:Some classification systems were extrapolations (no prove ) based on generalizations obtained in temperate areas which were of little practical use. Others originated in the tropics, but could be applied only to limited areas, since plant production was their main concern and the criteria were agronomic rather than pedogenetic. Africa has an area of about 30.3 million Km2. Out of this area about 20 million Km2 contains soil cover – i.e. covered by some soil layer. Such a surface layer carries vegetation of some different kinds. Some surfaces are bare possibly because human activities, such as cultivation and settlements have been practiced on the Earth’s surface, where possible. The rest of the area is stony desert, bare rock, broken rock material, open water and at very high altitudes including glacial ice and perpetual snow totalling to about 1/3 of the continent. 44 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Much of the African area is poor and the growth of natural vegetation and rapid regeneration of bush or forest following clearing tend to conceal the intrinsic soil poverty. A large area of Africa rainfall is so low or so erratic and this makes cultivation a leading hazardous. As well this causes heavy teaching as well as loosing soil structure over the continent. The soil poverty as well is caused by poor parent materials, i.e. lava boulders, Rock outcrops, ice or extensive sand-like oceans in a number of deserts of Africa. Also some soil types are formed out of materials that are derived from old, acid parent rocks, poor in calcium and nutrients of which the average organic content of African soils is only 0.2% if compared to 2.0% for the cultivated soils of some parts of Europe. 5.5 Soils Types, Classification in Africa With such observations then soils in the African continent tend to be grouped according to their natural development, i.e. based on parent materials. The following are the outstanding groups of soil types:(a) Weakly developed soils. (b) Soils of arid and sub-or semi-arid regions of Africa. (c) The Ferralitic soils. (d) The Ferruginous tropical. (e) The Ferrisols. (f) Entrophic Brown soils. (g) The Vertisols. (h) Hydromorphic and Halomorphic soils. 45 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (a) 30% of the soil material cover about 6 million km2 of this soil types. There horizons differ very slightly and soil profile development. The most spread type of this soil is the Lithosols, that occupies 3.5 million km2 and subdesert soils 2.0 million km2. Young soils on river and lake alluvium covers 0.4 million km2 plus a small remnant comprising tidal mangrove soils of the tropical coasts, as well wind-blown sands. A very small proposition out of the 6 million sq. km is cultivated where such proportion may not be increased. Pockets developed soils occur in the lithosol complex but largely cannot be cultivated. Sub-desert soils are potentially fertile on large areas which can give good yields if irrigation methods were applied, where mainly the limiting factor is water. Many deposit materials on river and lake alluvium are of hydromorphic having high water tables which limit or prohibit cultivation but there are alluvial plains of limited extent which can be counted among the most fertile of the cultivated soils. (b) These are soils classified by D’Hoore 91964) and occupy the largest area of any one or single group – 5.3 million km2 or 27% of the soil mantle or material. This type occur mainly in intertropical Africa as residual soils of the ancient plateaux. They are highly leached and altered until mobiled mineral constituents can be recognised. 46 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents These include: (a) Kalahari sands (b) High forest land of the Congo Basin In spite of their intrinsic (natural, quality) poverty, these soils carry high forest and savannah under humid conditions, but most of the mineral reserve is concentrated in the vegetation and the decomposing plant material of the surface soil. Most of these soil types are exhausted after two or three years and need a long period of fallow for restoration of fertility. However they maintain some fertile and durable variants – especially Red Ferrallitic soils on rocks rich in ferromagnesian minerals and some humic soils of high organic content, but occupy small fraction of about 0.15 million km2. (c) This is a second extensive soil group occupying about 3.1 million km2 that comprises the Ferruginous Tropical soils which originate from crystalline rocks of the basement complex mostly found in the north and south of the Equator. They have high content of iron compounds resulting in the frequent occurrence of ironstone crusts at shallow depth and they are very vulnerable to erosion, except the permeable variants. Also they are generally of low to mediocre intrinsic fertility and durability under cultivation. However it is observed that under normal conditions these soils can sustain only short period of fallow. (d) This is a less extensive group that occupy about 0.9km2, having some similarities to the Ferrallitic soils. But it differs in that it has a higher content of exchangeable elements with better structure and markedly higher intrinsic or natural fertility. These soil types are regarded as a transitional group in process of evolution under warm on humid conditions. 47 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (e) This group of soils have small extend that occupy about 0.5 million km2, but very remarkable for their high agricultural value. They are young or are rejuvenated (become young, appear young) soils which are developed on volcanic materials, basic crystalline rocks or alluvial deposits under warm humid conditions which favour rapid soil formation capacity. They are rich in mineral nutrients structure and permeability, and include volcanic ash and are cultivated intensively to bananas and coffee within the humid and semihumid tropics while similar soils on mineral rich rocks are excellent for cocoa in suitable climates. (f) Vertisols are soils of prismatic structure with a calcareous horizon. They have a dark A1 horizon, but the organic content is low. The mineral reserve is high but permeability and external drainage are almost invariably poor. Here there are two groups recognised as follows:(i) Lithomorphic vertisols – developed on rocks rich in ferromagnesian minerals. (ii) Vertisols of Topographic Depression. Lithomorphic vetisols in association with humic Ferrisols do cover much of the Ethiopian massif in north-east Africa, where the water table can be regulated these soils may be counted among the best of the agricultural soils. They are inadequately used. Vertisols of Tropic Depressions cover an area two and a half times as great as the lithomorphic vertisols. The Sudanese depression, which receives drainage from the Ethiopian massif, has probably, the world’s greatest extent of these soils. 48 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents They are important elements in the soils complexes in the Lake Victoria Basin and the Rift Valley External Drainage together with poor internal drainage limits or prohibits their use for agriculture. These are associated with high water-table conditions and they cover less than one million km2 (1.0 million km2). They are permanently or seasonally water-logged. Many of the mineral Hydromorphic soils have a relatively high agricultural value where water-logging is seasonal. Organic Hydromorphs occur mainly in sub-humid to semi-arid regions where they carry a swampy vegetation, like that of coastal mangrove swamps, has presented unexpected difficulties. 5.6 Summary This lesson introduces the learners to the general soil characteristics over the African Continent. The way these soils are developed in similar conditions like those found in other tropical zones such as Austria, Brazil etc. are described. Soil types plus their classifications, associated with geological structures (or parent materials) within different parts of Africa have been highlighted too. The overall distribution of the main soil types/groups have been explained and demonstrated. 5.7 Revision Questions (a) Describe the major soil types of Africa. (b) Discuss the main factors that control soil distribution in Africa. (c) Briefly explain the different between a soil type and a soil group. 49 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 5.8 Definition of Key Words Soil Catenary System/Complexes: This is soil sequence of the same period, derived from the same parent material and occur under similar conditions, but differ due to variations in topography and drainage. Soil Classification: Systematic arrangement of soils into types/groups/categories that are based on their characteristics according the same geological rock or similar in rock formation. Parent: Unconsolidated of more or less chemically weathered mineral or organic matter out of which soil solum is developed through (by) pedagenic processes. 5.9 Reading List (a) Richard White (1990): Africa in Focus: A Physical, Human and Economic Geography. (b) A.T. Grove (1971): Africa: South of the Sahara. (c) J. D’Hoore (1964). The soils map of Africa. CCTA/CSA. Symposium on other classification of the soils of Inter-tropical Regions, Leopoldville, 1963. 50 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 6.0 6.1 LESSON SIX VEGETATIVE COVER OF AFRICA Introduction This lesson introduces the learners to the vegetation types and their characteristics generally on the African continent as related to other tropical zones around the whole world. Vegetation distribution and some main factors that make floristic variations within the African continent have been highlighted. 6.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson you should be able to: a. Discuss the vegetative coverage and their general characteristics on the African continent. b. Describe the main factors influencing vegetation distribution, types in Africa. c. Explain problems facing vegetation decline on the African continent. d. Draw a map showing vegetation regions and types in Africa. 6.3 Vegetation diversification in Africa Africa has a wide variety of vegetation and range from (or between) deserts to humid regions. In the continent of Africa the vegetation doe vary from equatorial coast belts to the highest peaks of mountains of Africa. In many parts of Africa the quality of vegetation cover depends on the landform characteristics as follows: a) The spacing of the trees and their size. b) The height of the grasses. c) The resulting textural patterns in colour i.e. in either green or brown. 51 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents And also this is controlled by the estimatic regimes in floristic unposition depending on distances from the water masses. That is why the plants of north –west Africa are comparable to those of the Mediterranean zone. Those plants of Sudan zone and the Sahara in south west Asia having the same climatic conditions. The plants of Madagascar resemble those in some parts of Africa and south East Asia and Madagascar have peculiar features which was separated during mid-tertiary periods. But bigger parts of Africa the forest have been cleared for agricultural aims, hunters have also burned savannah grasslands for driving out the animals or game. Pastoralists have grazed their herds over the savannah grasslands exhausting some plants over the years. 6.3.1 Tropical Rain Forest Moist or Tropical Rain Forest is characterized by large number of tree species of different heights and ages related to those forest of India and Malasia (Malaya). In places the canopy is open and some parts the canopy is very closed. Some forests are characterized by lianas, especially where young trees crowd together or in dense formation. Sometimes leaves and branches from canopies or layers into two three levels of over 40 to 50ft above the ground, but some layers are at about 100ft where trees are extremely tall. 52 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents And the so called emergent tall trees obtain the height of 150ft or even higher than this level. Tropical Rain Forest are usually confined to lowland zones where rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year with annual rainfall totals of over 1500mm (about 60in.). In dries margins the number of tree species of evergreen becomes less and less and the number of deciduous trees increases. Here soil differences have a greater effect on the flora composition. Such composition of the forest varies too with altitude, where forests above about 3000ft (about 1000m) including only 1/10 of the species normally found in the lowland rain forest. Such montane forests are scattered all across Africa, from Cameroon mountain to the highlands bordering the rift valley and beyond to the slopes of the East Africa volcanic mountains to the east of rift valley, where the assemblages of tree species found in each of these forests indicate a striking similarities. In order to give evidence (or explain) to this situation there has been a suggestion that sometimes during quaternary period when the climate was cooler than now, forest of the montane type may have reached down much further to occupy a continues belt across the upland country of central Africa of which the patches are merely (or little) remnants. Within low-lying swampy zones, for especially near the Niger delta and on the floor of the Congo basin, where rivers flood wide zones for months at a time, the forest trees are adapted to life in fresh- water swamps and stand high on silt roots. Around the coasts of east and west Africa, especially in the Niger delta, where alluvium is inundated for much of the time with fresh or brackish water, the mangroves 53 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Risophera and Avicennia have colonized the muds and overhang winding creeks and pools. 6.3.2 Tropical Savannah (i) Moist Woodland Savannah, (ii) Dry Woodland Savannah The term ‘Savannah’ means a mixture of grass and trees, but there are many kinds of savannah: (i) Woodland grassland (as above no(i), having annual rainfall of 600-1370mm – i.e. open mixture of trees and shrubs and tall growth of grass and common in most area of Uganda. (ii) Woodland (as above no. (ii), with annual rainfall of 750-1120mm, i.e. with rather long dry season. Trees here form a mainly continuous cover over ground vegetation of grasses, herbs and shrubs e.g. miombo woodland in much of Central Tanzania. Usually, the term savannah is used to denote (indicate, the sign) the sub-humid tropical woodland and grassland, which occupies the plateau region/area/one of south central and east Africa. This zone extends westward along the northern margins of the Congo River Basin to the Atlantic coast south of the Gambia River. A number of plant species in the northern part are closely related to those of Indian parts or some regions in India. Others are more typical of south-central Africa. The savannah flora south of the Equator is very rich in plants and a remarkable number of the plants here are able to resist fire and drought. Brachystegia trees are among the most typical trees of south and east Africa, and they are not found in West Africa. 54 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Also (iii) bushland with 250-625mm having bushy trees and low grass cover in much of Eastern and North-Eastern Kenya. Some tall woodland trees such as chipya and marguesia woodland of Zambia, are not clearly distinguishable from the rest of rain forest. The savannah of the more humid areas of west Africa include large number of high-forest species and are sometimes called derived savannah because they are believed to have replaced rain forest as a result of human activities that interfered with more soundable tropical rain forest that altered the original or the physiognomic form. There are other formations, dominated by evergreen trees which lack the evergreen trees which lack the physiogromic characteristics of rain forest and so are generally regarded as savannah. Usually the boundary between savannah and high forest is very distinct, and such boundaries are being sharpened every year by grass fires which are held up by islands and peninsulas of forest and sweep through dry grasses, between gnarled fire resistant trees typical of savannah woodland. 6.3.3 Desert Steppe (Steppe and Desert) Within the desert margins, where the mean annual rainfall decreases to less than 510mm (20in), the proportion of thorny species in the woodland increases, grasses are shorter than in the more humid savannah and plants are more specialized in their adaptation to drought conditions. As the rainfall decreases still further the gaps between plants increase and eventually vegetation is confined mainly to the margins of storm-water channels and the borders of temporary lakes where trees such as date-palms, tamarisk, and certain acacias can obtain water from soil at depth. 55 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 6.4 Vegetation Types Of Africa There are about ten vegetation types in Africa. They are: 1. Moist forest (at low and medium altitude) This type embraces Congo Basin, west Africa coast forest area, parts of central Africa ( Clarke, et.al. 1975) 2. Moist woodland savannah. Outering of Congo Basin, west Africa coast up to Zambia – Mozambique coasts, central Madagascar. 3. Dry woodland savannah. A west east zone of savannah usually on edges of deserts –Sahara and Kalahari. 4. Wooded and grass steppe. As No. 3 but occupies most parts of low Ethiopian plateau on low slopes Kalahari desert. 5. Desert steppe. Mostly bordering with desert zones after the coastal desert of Namibia – southern end of Sahara. 6. Desert Real Sahara desert and coast desert of Namibia. 7. Temperate and sub-tropical Grass land. Northern-Eastern parts of Drakensburg mountain. 8. Mediterranean. West, North, East slopes of the atlas mountains. 56 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 9. Cape Macchia Mostly occupies the south low slopes of cape ranges. 10. Mountain vegetation. 6.5 Climate and Vegetation Natural Resources of Africa The relationship between climate and vegetation is easily noticed in the continent of Africa. Even with rapid removal of plant life by animal and man still extensive vegetation zones do exist. The climate and its associated vegetation affects the patterns of life which man may determine to lead and has a direct bearing on the economic development of a region. Climatic and vegetation zones are considered as natural areas and their economic values are usually discussed together in the modern land use patterns. Natural resources in Africa include: a) Soil resources. b) Vegetation resources. c) Water resources: I rivers ii lakes, iii oceans, (iv) dams (v) swamps. d) Mineral resources. e) Energy resources. 6.6 Summary In this lesson we have described the floristic variation within the Africa continent such variations depend on a number of various factors that control the vegetational ranges and distribution on the African continent from the coastal low-plains through African plaleax to the high mountain peaks of Africa. Vegetation regions and types that vary from 57 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents equatorial forests to desert and savannah types, determined mainly by climatic regimes have been highlighted. 6.7 Review Questions Explain the factors influencing the vegetation distribution in Africa. Identify the major vegetation types and distribution over the African continent. Discuss at least three main problems facing vegetation detoriation in Africa. 6.8 Definition of Key Words Canopy – Hanging tree branches, almost touching each other forming shelter below trees. Savannah – Mixture of grass and trees within the tropical zones. Physiognomy – Vegetative appearance of the height density plus cover characteristics. 6.9 Further Reading a) A.T Grove (1971) Africa, south of Sahara. b) Clerke, et. al. (1975): an advanced Geography of Africa. c) Richard White (1990): Africa in Focus; A physical, Human and Economic Geography. d) W. J. Minnus (1991); geography of Africa. 58 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents PART TWO: HUMAN ENVIRONMENT 7.0 LESSON SEVEN: POPULATION ORIGIN, SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA 7.1 Introduction This lesson introduces the learners to the population origin and distribution of the ethnicity groups in Africa. Population size and main factors that contribute to the changes from region to region has been examined. Environmental problems facing vast population numbers, especially in high potential and congested urban areas have been highlighted. 7.2 Learning objectives By the end of this lesson you should be able to: a) Describe the origin and distribution of population in Africa. b) Explain factors that determine population distribution in the continent of Africa. c) Evaluate the effects of population pressure in Africa. d) Discuss population structure and area changes of the African population. e) Examine environmental problems that face large population numbers in the continental of Africa. 7.3 The origin, size and distribution 7.3.1 Origin of the African ethnicity In Robert July’s book ‘precolonial Africa, An economic and social History (1975) we find the following statement concerning the origin of the African ethnicity. There is general agreement that the beginning of human evolution were centered in Africa. According to Charles Darwin “it is probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere” and subsequent research seems to support this proposition. 59 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Other findings have established the fact that Eastern Africa was a center of pongid activity as far back as twenty million years, although early apes were also found in Europe and Southeast Asia It was in Africa that life began for man, but for man in Africa life has often stinted its gifts. These are fundamental questions about the origin of the African peoples. You are advised to research and obtain more solutions that will lead to really answers. 7.3.2 Population size and distribution in Africa In 1990 Richard White indicated that the biggest problems facing the human kind towards the 20th century is the population increase in terms of numbers living on our Earth to-day. After the 17th century, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the world population stood at about 800 million people. Between 1750 and 1900 the same population size had doubled to about 1600 million (i.e. after only 150 years). After another 64 years the number again doubled to 3200 million (Richard W. 1990). By the end of 20th century the world population, as had been projected was likely to double to 6.5 billion that was described as the world ‘population explosion’ Africa is generally agreed to be the cradle of the human race; genetic testing in recent years has confirmed archaeological finds. Some 5 million years ago of hominid, a close evolutionary ancestor of present-day humans, inhabited southern and eastern Africa. More than 1.5 million years ago this tool making hominid developed into the more Homo sapiens, dates from more that 200,00 years ago. A hunter-gatherer capable of making crude stone tools, Homo sapiens banded together with others to form nomadic groups; eventually these nomadic Khoisan-speaking peoples spread throughout the African continent. Gradually a growing Bantu-speaking population, which had mastered animal domestication and agriculture, forced the Khoisan-speaking groups into the less 60 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents hospitable areas. Today they are found primarily in the Kalahari. In the 1st century AD the Bantu began a migration that lasted some 2,000 years, settling most of central and southern Africa. Negroid societies typically depended on subsistence agriculture or, in the savannahs, pastoral pursuits. Political organization was normally local, although large kingdoms would later develop in most parts of the continent, and especially western, central, and southern Africa. The first great civilization in Africa began in the Nile Valley about 5000 BC. Dependent on agriculture, these settlements benefited from the Nile’s flooding as a source of irrigation and new soils. The need to control the Nile floodwaters eventually resulted in a well-ordered, complex state with elaborate political and religious systems. The kingdom of Egypt flourished, influencing Mediterranean and, to a lesser extent, African societies for thousands of years. Iron-making, according to some theories was brought from Egypt around 800 BC, and spread into tropical Africa; other theories suggest independent development of Iron Age culture. Ideas of royal kingship and state organization were also exported, particularly to adjacent areas such as Cush and punt. The east Cushite state, meroe was supplanted in the 4th century AD By Aksum which later evolved into Ethiopia. During the period from the late 3rd century BC to the early 1st century AD, Rome had conquered Egypt, carthage, and other North African areas; these became the granaries of the Roman Empire. The empire was divided into two parts in the 4th century. All lands west of modern Libya remained territories of the western Empire, ruled by Rome, and lands to the east, including Egypt, became part of the eastern of Byzantine Empire, ruled from Constantinople. By this time the majority of the population had been converted to Christianity. In the 5th century the vandals, a Germanic tribe, conquered much of North Africa. Vandal ruled there until the 6th century, when were defeated by Byzntine forces, and the area was absorbed by the Byzantine Empire. 61 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Table 2: World Population Increase between 1970 and 2000 (Population in million) 1970 20000 Continent Total % of World total Total % of World total North America 234 6.4 333 3.1 Europe 462 12.7 568 8.7 Soviet Union 243 6.7 330 5.1 Oceania 18 0.5 35 0.5 Sub-total 957 26.3 1266 19.4 Latin America 283 7.8 6.52 10.0 Asia 2056 56.4 3777 58.0 Africa 344 9.5 818 12.6 Sub-total 2683 73.7 5247 80.6 World population 3640 100.0 6513 100.0 According to Grove, A.T. (1970), Africa possesses more population, ethnic groups, cultures, etc than any other continent of the world that affects certain places having human beings highly congested as mentioned earlier. Africa covers about 1/5 of the total world land surface, it has only about 12 per cent of its population. In 2004 the total population of the continent was estimated to be about 875,027,307. Average density, some 29 people per km2 which is over a ½ the world average. This figure includes large areas, such as the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, which are virtually uninhabited, and smaller areas, such as the Nile valley, of very high population density. When the population living on productive land is calculated, the average density increases to some 139 people per km2. The most densely settled areas of 62 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents the continent are those along the northern and western coasts; in the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Senegal River basins and in the eastern African plateau nation in Africa. The age distribution is weighted heavily towards the young. In most African countries, about half the population is 15 years of age or younger. Africa’s population remains predominantly rural, with only about 1/5 of the population living in towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants. Northern Africa is the most urbanized region, but there are individual countries with high levels of urbanization, such as Zambia (50 per cent urbanized), and major cities are located in every part of the continent. African cities that have populations of more than 1 million include Cairo, Alexandria, and Giza in Egypt; Algiers, Algeria; Casablanca, morocco, Lagos, Nigeria, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Abidjan, Coted’ Ivoire, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Soweto in South Africa. The urban centers act as magnates, attracting large numbers of rural migrants who come either as permanent settlers or as short-term workers. Urban growth has been particularly rapid since the 1950s. A substantial international labour migration has also developed, particularly of Africans from central Africa to the mines and factories of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and south Africa, and of North and West Africans to France and Italy, and, more recently, to the European Union as a whole. Civil wars in a number of countries in recent years notably Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia Sudan, Liberia, and Rwanda have led to a massive displacement of population, as have droughts and famines. Africa has the world’s largest concentration of refugees, including people displaced within their own countries, as well as people who have fled across borders in search of safety. 7.3.3 People ethnicity and religion/believes within the African continent. The Sahara serves as a dividing line between the peoples of northern Africa and those of sub-Saharan Africa although historically it has not acted as a barrier to trade or dissemination of ideas between the north and west of the continent. Numerous dubious nature, being based on essentially racist assumptions. The geographical division appears the most useful today. 63 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents In the northern portion of the continent, including the Sahara, Caucasoid peoples – mainly Berbers and Arabs – predominate. People of Arab descent are also found along eh east African coast. Caucasoid peoples constitute about one-quarter of the continents population. South of the Sahara, Bantu speaking peoples, constituting some 70 per cent of Africa’s population, predominate. Pockets of Khoisan peoples, the San (formerly called Bushmen) and Khoikhoi (formerly called Hottentots), are located in southern Africa. The pygmies are concentrated in the Congo basin. Scattered through Africa, but primarily concentrated in southern Africa, are some 5 million people of European descent. An Indian population, numbering some 1 million, is concentrated along the eastern African coast and in southern Africa. More than 3,000 distinct ethnic groups have been classified in Africa. The extended family is the basic social unit of most of these peoples. In much of Africa the family is linked to a larger society through kin groups such as lineages and clans. Kin groups generally tend to exclude marriage among their members. The village is frequently constituted of a single kin group united by either male of female descent. Linguistic families or groups: Niger – Congo and Afro-Asiatic (formerly known as Hamito-Semitic), the largest groups, consisting of over 1,400 and 400 languages respectively; Nilo-Saharan, spoken in north central and east Africa, and Khoisan, spoken among the San and Khoikhoi of southern Africa. Many Africans, particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa, are multilingual, speaking their own languages as well as those of previous European colonizers. See African languages. Christianity is today probably the most widespread religion in Africa. It was introduced into northern Africa in the 1st century and spread to the Sudan and Ethiopia religions in the 4th century. Christianity survived in Ethiopia and Egypt through the Coptic Church, but in the other areas, was swept away by Islam after the 7th century. It was reintroduced by missionaries and spread through tropical Africa with the 18th century 64 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents rise European overseas expansion. Today protestant and catholic groups are about equally represented throughout the continent. Islam, the fastest growing religion in Africa, was introduced throughout northern Africa in the 7th century and in following centuries was spread down the River Nile, along the east African coast, and through the grasslands of West Africa. In the 20th century, Islam penetrated into the rest of the continent. The earliest of the Muslim schools of law, the Maliki, prevails over most of Muslim Africa except in Egypt, the Horn, and east African coast. About 15 per cent of Africa’s people practise only indigenous or local religious. Many more, however, retain elements of traditional beliefs in their lives, and Christianity and Islam in Africa have also incorporated indigenous practices. Although indigenous religions are of great diversity, they tend to have a single god or creator figure and a number of subordinate spirits-nature spirits who inhabit trees water, animals, and other natural phenomena – and ancestral spirits, such as founders of the family, lineage, or clan who affect everyday life. Certain modern indigenous religious movements have developed, fusing mainly orthodox Christian rites and beliefs with indigenous religious elements. Led by individual prophets, these separatist groups have spread throughout Africa, although they appear most widespread and powerful in southern and central Africa. Small numbers of Jews are located in northern and southern Africa; until the 1980s there was also a sizeable Jewish community in Ethiopia, the Falashas; Hindu, Buddhist, and Daoist peoples are scattered throughout eastern and southern Africa . Most traditional cultural activity centers on the family and the ethnic group. Traditional arts, music and oral literature for example do serve to reinforce the existing religious and social dynamic patterns of the African people. 65 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents The heavily westernized elite that is influenced by the west-north European culture and Christianity at the beginning rejected. African traditional culture, but, with the rise of African nationalism around independence in the 1960s, a cultural revival occurred. The governments of most African nations foster national dance and music groups, museums, and, to a lesser degree, artists and writers. Even so, Western ideas, habits, music, and fashions have – through film, radio, television, and travel – permeated all but the most remote areas – influencing local music, styles of dress, eating habits, and so on, especially among the young. In the 20th century; however, African arts and music also had a considerable reverse influence in the West. Artists like Pablo Picasso were influenced by African artworks like the Benin Bronzes. More recently, African music and its practitioners have influenced many kinds of Western music from jazz to rock and roll. Western interests in the many different types of modern African music led to the development of so-called “World” music. See African Art and Architecture; African Literature; African Music; World Music. 7.4 Factors influencing population distribution in Africa The factors determining population distribution on the African continent are in one way or the other similar to those found in some other continents, especially those lying on the same tropical positions like Africa. Except in some sections of these continents whereby we experience extreme environmental conditions nearing both poles of southern and northern hemisphere. W.J. White (1990), notes that the factors disjoining the distribution plus density of population over the African continent are numerous. Such factors are found to be related with the surrounding immediate environmental conditions o the earth surface. The Earth’s life-providing environmental riches or resources create the difference between whether or not a region or spot is inhabited/settled. And this controlled by natural conditions simply referred to as the surroundings. 66 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents This is made up of the earth where people live with the various physical factors that influence the surroundings, determining the number in each region. For example, in high mountain peaks, ranges, that are surrounded by extensive plains, large and small rivers plus desert expansions, the natural conditions differ greatly from place to place. And such conditions, therefore make the population distribution vary too. These factors do contribute to the natural environment, natural conditions or to our surroundings. Therefore, the degree to which a place, a zone, a region is populated depends on the way natural conditions are arranged. At times the natural conditions create an easy life for human-beings, whereby people tend to move to such zones, having conducive environment. And in other cases natural conditions make human-life difficult by providing harshly circumstances that make or will encourage few people to inhabit in such zones. The major natural or physical conditions (factors) or at times referred to as natural environment, that determine population distribution and density over the African Continent include:(A) Natural Factors (i) Climate (rainfall amount, heat, coldness etc.) (ii) Soils (fertility, nutrients etc. (iii) Topography/relief (smoothness, gentle, etc.) (iv) Mineral locations (v) Pests 67 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (vi) Diseases (B) Human-related Factors There are also human-related factors which account for example to various population distribution and areal density:(i) Socio-economic (ii) Urbanization (iii) Tribe conflicts (i) Climate The key climatic parameters influencing the distribution of population in the continent of Africa are rainfall and temperature. Areas characterized by high (>1000mm), reliable and predictable rainfall; and moderate temperatures (15-200c) are densely populated. Such places have a high agricultural potential and therefore support large populations. Areas with moderate to high rainfall (750-1000mm), which are also characterized by warm to cool temperatures (20-250c), are moderately populated; while those receiving less than 700mm with high temperatures (>25 0c) are sparsely populated. The latter, which is commonly referred to as arid to semi arid areas or marginal lands have a low potential and are mainly occupied by pastoralists. However, due to high population pressure and subsequent land shortage in the high potential zones, the marginal areas are today recipients of large numbers of migrants from the overcrowded areas. Unfortunately the rising number of immigrants is contributing immensely to land degradation problems in these fragile areas. (ii) Relief/Topography Mountainous areas, especially at altitudes above 2100 metres have low and sparse population. At such altitudes, low temperature and inadequate oxygen make life generally impossible. Moreover, apart from limiting agricultural land, the steep slopes of the mountains constitute a constraint on the movement of people and the development of a modern transport network. The mountainous regions of Africa are therefore sparsely populated. Hilly places with gentle slopes, especially those lying between 1300m and 68 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 2100m, and some lowlands are some of the densely populated regions in East Africa. These places have moderate and comfortable temperatures, receive effective rainfall, have mature and fertile sols and are easily accessible. As such they have a high agricultural population. Unlike in the temperature world, aspect (the compass direction in which sloping land faces) does not exert any significant influence in the distribution of population in Africa. This is because in East Africa the sun is almost vertically overhead throughout the year. However leeward sides of mountains, which normally receive low and unreliable rainfall (<350mm) and have poor soils and generally a week agricultural base, typically have low and sparse populations. There is more of livestock farming in these areas than crop farming. (iii) Soils African populations are to a large extent agriculture-based and tend to concentrate in places with fertile soils. Areas of volcanic, alluvial or loamy soils are more fertile than regions with sandy or clay soils. The former are not only deep, well and easy to work but also contain high organic content and as such attract huge populations. They are considered favourable and conducive environments for diverse agricultural activities. The reverse is true of areas with sandy soils such as the Arid and Semi-arid areas (ASALs) of North Eastern, north western and central Africa which are to a largely characterized by low and sparse population. Sandy soils although well aerated are coarse is true and as such have a low water retention capacity. They are therefore not conducive for crop production (with the exception of a few crops such as dates and palm trees). Clay soils (e.g. Sudan Plains) are also not very attractive to human settlements because they are poorly drained and are usually water logged most of the time, heavy and hence too expensive to cultivate. (iv) Minerals Africa lack important deposits. However the few that are available play a crucial part in the distribution of population in the region. Places with mineral deposits have 69 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents dense and nucleated populations. For instance, the availability of diamond and copper mining in some parts of Africa, explains the presence of large and dense population in areas that would otherwise have low populations. (v) Pests and Diseases Africa has favourable environment for human settlement and agriculture. Unfortunately this environment is also conducive to a variety of pests (mainly tsetse fly and the mosquito) and associated diseases (trypanosomiasis and malaria), which affect a substantial of Africa. The tsetse fly thrives in places below 1600m and those receiving over 400mm of rainfall such as the Miombo woodland in east, central Africa mosquitoes survive in places below 1500m with stagnant water, poor drainage and rainfall of over 400mm. At the moment malaria, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, is a killer disease in after HI-AIDS. Populations are thus sparse in areas conducive to pests and diseases. However, man is deterministic in nature and is working hard to eradicate pests and diseases from the earth’s surface. Through improvements in science and technology, pesticides, insecticides and medicine to combat pests and diseases have been found. For instance, the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and KETRI, among others are working tirelessly in the search for Malaria and HIV-AIDS cure, like other parts of Africa. In the past malaria was restricted to lowland areas but to-day there were increasing cases of malaria in highland areas. For instance, there has been a raid increase in the number of people affected by highland malaria in Kericho and Kisii in Kenya, also many parts of Africa. In recent times, certain sites on the earth’s surface have gained socio-economic advantages over others because of the functions they perform as administrative headquarters, ports and industrial towns or cities. These areas form some of the most highly and densely populated areas of the world today. They are less extensive than the densely populated agricultural or rural areas and are centres of in-migration. 70 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (i) Population Change Population changes can be as a result of natural change and or migration. The balance between births and deaths determines natural population change. When the number of births in a given region exceeds the number of deaths, a natural increase in population occurs. When the number of deaths exceeds the number of births, a natural decrease in population results. Thus, the difference between the number of births and deaths referred to as a natural population change. Natural population change is the key factor contributing to Africa’s population growth. Before the 1960s population in Africa grew rather slowly largely because both birth rates and death rates were high. High death rates resulted from frequent wars, famines and epidemics of such diseases as cholera etc. However after the 1970s, there was a notable decline in mortality rates resulting from: Extensive vaccination campaigns against epidemic diseases like measles, small pox and polio. Expansion of medical facilities and services especially in the rural areas. Improved standards of living with regard to food, housing and sanitation. Improved primary health care and community based rural health projects, which receive strong support from the Governments. These aim at reducing infant and child mortality caused by diarrhoeal diseases, malaria, preventable and communicable diseases and malnutrition. Community based traditional birth attendants are being trained to provide maternal and child health services and nutritional education within their respective communities. The improvements in medical facilities, hygiene and nutrition have resulted in a significant drop in death rates from 40 persons per every 1,000 in the early 1960s to less than 20 persons per every 1,000 in 2002. There has also been a major decline in birth over 50 persons per every 1,000 in the early 1960s to 34, 48 and 40 persons in every 1,000 in Kenya., Uganda and Tanzania respectively in 2002. Reasons advanced for declining birth rates include: increased use of contraceptives, general acceptance of family planning, reduction in illiteracy levels and increased cost of living. 71 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Before the 1960, for example in East Africa, high birth rates were prevalent; a fact attributed to soaring fertility rates, which resulted from:1. Early start and late continuation of reproductive life (18-45 years). 2. Decline in the incidence of childlessness of women between 15 and 49 years due to improved nutrition and health conditions. 3. Low level of use of contraceptives. 4. Rising level of adolescent fertility. 5. Preference for a boy child to a girl child. (ii) Population Migration What do you understand by the term population migration? It is the physical movement of people from one place to another. This can also occur when people migrate to look for life-giving as illustrated in Fig. VII). It takes many forms and can be classified in at least three different ways including the following: Voluntary and involuntary movements Temporary and permanent movements. External and internal movements. Let us now examine the difference between these different types of migration. Internal Migration: These are movements confined within a single country and do not affect national population sine of the countries in which they occur. They however can have a significant impact on spatial distribution of populations especially in the cases where too many people migrate form one area to another. Throughout Africa, ASALs, which have been known to support low populations, are today recipients of large numbers of immigrants from the overcrowded high potential areas. Internal migration, which could be of a long-term or short-term nature, includes the following: Rural-urban migration Rural-rural migration Urban-rural migration Urban-urban migration 72 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 7.4.1 Rural-Urban Migration: Although Africa like the rest of the world is the least urbanized, present rates of urban growth are among the highest in the world. Rural-urban migration ha contributed immensely to the process of urbanization in the region. It is a process representing an important demographic response to a new economic and spatial order. It is also a process by which the rural and urban areas interact. Rural-urban migration is a function of availability of economic opportunities in urban aras and lack of the same in the rural. Lack of agricultural land, food insecurity, underemployment or unemployment, low wages and dislike of hard rural conditions are some of the underlying factors (push factors) enhancing rural-urban migration. The attractions of urban life, the hope for better employment opportunities, better education facilities and better standards of living are on the other hand, pull factors that attract rural population to urban areas. The introduction and penetration of the capitalist mode of production based on a high degree of product specialization and quite a sophisticated division of labour has required wage workers to concentrate in fixed locations (urban centres). Among the many external stimuli to social and economic change in the rural areas, the selective movement of household members from the rural to urban areas, which are the centres of cash income, is among the most potent. Unemployment and underemployment and the low wages offered in the rural areas are important factors explaining the movement of rural population to urban areas. Migrants hope to find employment and better wages in urban areas. The increasing cases of rural-urban migration have aggravated the unemployment problem in the urban sector. A large number of migrants have not been able to find employment. 7.4.2 Urban-Rural Migration: This type of migration consists of people who have failed to find employment in the urban areas or those who have retired, been retrenched or sacked. It also includes people who are dissatisfied with the noisy, congested, dirty and dangerous urban urban areas. 73 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 7.4.3 Urban-Urban Migration: In some cases people migrate from one urban centre to another. These are usually people on transfer or those who want to try their lack elsewhere. 7.4.4 Rural-rural Migration: Migrants falling under this category include mainly agriculturalists who migrate in search of agricultural land or land for settlement. Usually the movement is from the densely populated ad high potential areas towards the sparsely populated areas. For example, in Kenya many migrants of this migrate from the densely settled Central provinces to the less populated areas of the country External migration also known as international migration concerns the physical movement of people from one country to another. These movements stem from economic and social push and pull factors including: employment opportunities; marriage, tourism, refugees and pilgrims. International migrations are of prime demographic significance as they affect the rate of population change in both the country of origin and that of destination. They influence the age structure, sex structures and economic composition at both ends. Due to its diversity in physical, social and cultural conditions, East Africa has become the destination of large numbers of immigrants from the rest f the world. Large numbers of immigrants comprise of tourists and expatriates whose visits are short tem and voluntary. Also, a large number of refugees are flocking Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania countries from the countries neighboring. For instance, Kenya I currently hosting thousands of refugees from Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan while war victims from Burundi and Rwanda have south refuge in Tanzania. Refugees are usually an economic burden on the recipient countries. Providing them with basic socioeconomic amenities is a considerable strain on economies that are already performing extremely poorly. 74 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 7.5 Population Structure Studying the population change of a region is not enough as its focus is on whether population is increasing, decreasing, or not changing at all. It is also important to study the population structure so as to understand the composition as well. What then is population structure so as to understand the composition as well. What then is population structure? Population structure is analyzed in terms of age and sex groupings of a population and is normally represented in the form of a population pyramid. 7.5.1 Age Structure: This is the age composition of a population. It is influenced by fertility, mortality and migration variables. Ordinarily a population is divided into three broad categories including: the young and children (<15 year olds) middle aged (16-64 year olds) and the aged (>64 year olds). The under 15 year olds, comprising of young people and children is largely non-productive. This group consists of dependants who are either school going children and teenagers or non-school going children. Unlike in the developed countries, this age group is pre-dominant I East Africa (Table 6.4) a fact attributed to high birth rates and lack of longevity. The middle-aged group is composed of the working, reproductive and productive population. It supports the under 20s and over 60s population groups. The over 60s form the third age group. Majority of the people falling in this category are decreasingly productive as retirement age falls. Unlike in the developed world only a small percentage of East Africa population survives to enjoy old age. This reflects a decrease in life expectancy resulting from increasing levels of poverty and in particular lack of finances to meet the escalating cost of medication. 7.5.2 Sex composition; Is the ratio of male to female in a population. It is an established fact that the number of male birth exceeds female births even though the reasons are not well known. As a result, there is usually an excess of males in the early age groups of a population. But it is also a known fact that in nearly all countries worldwide there is usually a higher mortality for males than for females and this 75 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents appears true throughout the normal life span. This is also true of East Africa where the number of females is slightly higher than that of females after age five. A population structure of a country is best illustrated through the use of a population or age-sex pyramid. The vertical axis is graduated in groups of years and the horizontal axis represents percentages of males and females in each group. 7.6 Problems Associated with a large population As noted elsewhere in this module, East Africa’s population has continued to show an upward trend resulting to an eminent imbalance between human beings and the available resources. Rapidly increasing populations have continually exerted pressure on physical and social resources and have resulted in problems of varying magnitudes. Some of these are highlighted and discuss here: (i) Resource degradation: Continually increasing population Africa I already exerting enormous pressure on the available resources making their sustainable use almost impossible. Some of the affected resources include: (ii) Agricultural land: Increasing populations have forced people abandon their traditional farming systems that involved leaving land on fallow land as shifting cultivation. Instead land is cultivated year in year out without a rest and usually without the use of manure and /or fertilizers. Infertile soils are known to be quite vulnerable to erosion and soil erosion has been reported in many areas where agriculture is practiced. Soil erosion results in nutrients loss and consequently a drop in crop yields. Increasing cases and levels of poverty have aggravated the problem of soil infertility, as many farmers are unable to use farm inputs to intensify their farm operation. Reduced soil fertility and land degradation in general have compounded the food insecurity problem in the region. 76 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Silt transported down stream clogs irrigations channels and dams. For example the Masinga dam which is the main source of Hydro-electric power in Kenya is silting at an alarming rate due to poor land use in the upper Tana River catchments. Continued siltation in the dam will have devastating costly effect in the country. The situation is the same in most African countries. In some cases excess populations migrate to marginal lands introducing improper farming method in the already unstable and fragile ecosystems, hence land degradation followed by desertification. (iii) Forests: More people than ever before are encroaching into forested area in search of land for settlement and cultivation as well as forestry products. For instance, the Sabaoti of Uganda and Kenyan in the Kenya-uganda frontier have encroached on Mt Elgon clearing forests at a worrying rate. Generally, forest destruction has had devastating effects in Africa. It has resulted in: Loss of biodiversity: Forests are home to fauna and flora. There are countless birds, insects and mammals, which live and feed in forests and a variety of tree species. A typical patch of 10km2 of rainforests eg in Kakamega forest in Western Kenya, may contain as many as 1,500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of tree, 400 species of birds, 150 varieties of butterflies, 100 different reptiles and 60 types of amphibians. When such a patch is destroyed, all the fauna and flora is as well destroyed as they are left homeless. Destruction of foresters and other animal habitats has resulted in serious human-wildlife conflicts. In their efforts to survive, animals encroach on human property leading to loss of life and property. Numerous cases of elephants and buffaloes etc. destroying crops, killing and or maiming people in the Mt. Kenya area have been reported. Loss of nutrients: Deforestation reduces the amount of leave fall in the affected areas. Leave fall is a great source of humus in the soil. A reduction in leave fall means less humus in the soil , a problem 77 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents aggravated by high levels of leaching in the tropics. Soil with a low organic content (humus) cannot support a luxuriant tree cover and consequently the quantity and quality of trees in the forested areas is drastically reduced. Accelerated soil erosion: tree canopy protects sols from heavy rains; roots bind the soil together while level fall augment organic content of the soil. Without the protective tree cover, there will be less interception and infiltration, and as such surface runoff and soil erosion will increase. Siltation increases the extent and frequency of flooding, reduces agricultural productivity, and increases siltation of irrigation channels and dams. Increases carbon dioxide: We know trees use carbon dioxide (CO2) in the photosynthesis process and are actually referred to as carbon sinks. Cutting trees therefore increases CO2 in the atmosphere aggravating the problem of global warming. On the other hand, trees are a good source f oxygen. For instance, recent investigations have suggested that over one third of the worlds oxygen supply come from trees in the rainforest and that a quarter of the world’s water is stored in the Amazon forest. Harsh micro and macroclimate: Forests have a significant influence on micro and macroclimate. Trees, though the process of transpiration, transfer tones of water from the soil to the atmosphere. Under favorable conditions this water can lead to the formation of rainfall. In addition, close growing trees in a forest produce microclimates beneath their dense leaf-cover often having a reduced temperature range and relatively higher humidity. Thus destroying forests generates harsh micro and macroclimatic conditions, which reduced the productivity of the affected ecosystems. 78 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Shortage of fuel wood and timber: Forest are exploited for domestic and commercial purposes. There is an increasing demand for trees for timber for building, fuel wood, paper industry etc. For instance fuel wood is the main source of energy in rural East Africa. Over 80% of rural folks use firewood and charcoal for cooking. Another significant number of urban population use charcoal for cooking. Unless the high rate of deforestation is reversed, East Africa may be unable to meet the increasing demand for fuel wood and timber. Water degradation: Water degrading is evident where population growth causes higher demand than the supply. On one hand, water quantity declines following an increase in its demand to meet domestic, agricultural and commercial needs. On the other hand, water quality declines too, as a result of agricultural and industrial related pollution. As the demand for water increases, conflicts arise a people fight over the available water. For instance in January-February 2005 water shortage sparked ethnic clashes mainly between the Maasai and Kikuyu in Mai-Mahiu Naivasha, Kenya where over 10 people were killed. (iv) Glutted labour market: A high rate of population growth results in an increase in the number of people joining the labour force. This is a serious problem in East Africa where generation of employment opportunities is remarkably low and sow compared to the number of job seekers; a problem attributed to East Africa’s low economic growth. Between 1980 and 2000 for instance, Kenya Uganda and Tanzania realized an economic growth rate of about 0.0%, 5.1% and 4.0% respectively (http://www.nationmaster.com).Consequently, the rate unemployment has risen in ordinary to a situation whereby the labour market is glutted. For example the rate of unemployment is over 40% in the three East Africa countries. 79 of Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents (iv) Inadequate social and economic infrastructure: A rapidly expanding population exerts increasing pressure on the social and economic infrastructure of the concerned countries. Schools, hospital and other facilities become inadequate almost as soon as they are constructed. Urban zones like Cape Town, Cairo Addis Ababa, Lagos etc, are experiencing an acute house shortage problem. The ongoing rural to urban migration has aggravated the housing problem further. Consequently slums and ghettos have developed in the big cities. 7.7 Summary The population of Africa is unevenly distributed with a variety of ethnicity groups form one area to another. And this involves various factors being favorable or unfavorable to human beings. African ethnicity comprises different tribes/groups that originated from north-east, north, south, west of the continent. In this case therefore cultural customs are diversified all over the continent, raging from those of the Asian, European and indigenous origin. Environmental conditions such as, climate, soils, topography, minerals, civil straits and disease have greatly contributed to unveness population distribution and density. 7.8 Revision Questions i. Explain some major factors that determine population distribution in Africa. ii. What is the different between population distribution and population density. iii. Draw a map of Africa and indicate highly and sparsely populated zones iv. Discuss why some areas in Africa are so congested with human being than others. 80 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 7.9 Definition of Key Words (a) Culture : Traditionally recognized intellectual expressions for particular societies within a given range of time/period. (b) Density: concentration of unit matter, that is expressed as mass per given unit area in specific identified units. 7.10 Reading List (a) A.T Grove (1970): Africa; South of the Sahara (b) W.J Minns (1991): A geography of Africa (c) Richard while (1990): Africa in Focus. A physical , human and economic Geography (d) July Robert (19 ): Pre-colonial History of Africa (e) World Bank (2004): African Development Indicators 2004: From the World Bank Data Base Washington D.C 81 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 8.0 8.1 LESSON EIGHT: AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS IN AFRICA Introduction This lesson introduces the learners to various types of agricultural activities and farming systems, mainly within the rural settings in Africa. Some main factors that account to the different agricultural practices throughout the continent of Africa are discussed. The role of agriculture in economic development in the African context is examined. 8.2 (a) Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson, learners should be able to: Describe the main factors that affect different agricultural practices in Africa. (b) (c) Explain various agricultural activities in Africa. Discuss the agricultural contribution to the economic development in Africa. (d) Asses reason determining agricultural variations over the continent of Africa. 8.3 Introduction to Agricultural Sector and Its Significant in Africa. According to Richard White (1990) any farming practice do provide a kind of reliable source of employment and food security support, and therefore, it is a very fundamental sector within Africa and around the world generally. 82 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents For some Nations, especially the so called developed, some in Africa in contrast, the statistics indicate that the fraction of the labour force engaged in agriculture is comparatively low, giving it at less than 10%. An example is the USA – Leading exporter of agricultural productions from farms worldwide, with only 2% of the population that is engaged in agriculture. However, in these same developing Nations, agriculture becomes very significance in both providing export income and local employment (Richard White, 1990). 8.3.1 Traditional agriculture in Africa Traditionally, the vast majority of Africans have been farmers and herders who raised crops and livestock for subsistence. Manufacturing and crafts were generally carried on as part-time activities. Most markets were local, although numerous states over the centuries developed long-distance trade systems, and in these places complex exchange facilities as well as industrial specialization, communication networks, and elaborate governmental structures maintained the flow of commerce. They included the medieval West Africa kingdoms and empires of Ghana, Songai, Kanem-Bornu; and o great Zimbabwe in southern Africa; trans-Saharan trade, which began before the Romans, continued until well into the 19th century. Gold, slaves (on a small scale), Kola, copper, kola nuts, ostrich feathers, and salt, were all items in Africa’s export trade for many hundreds of years before the advent of Europeans. With the Europeans, initially, there came increased demand for one of the traditional staples of African trade- slaves (see slavery: slavery in the modern period). The numbers required, however, were vastly more than had ever been traded before, leading to distortions and disruptions in Africa politics and society, and robbing the west and center of the continent of millions of its people. Colonization brought overseas demand for new agricultural and mineral products and internal labour migration; new and faster communication systems were constructed; European technology and crops were 83 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents introduced, not always, by any means, beneficially; and a modern exchange economy evolved. Local industries and crafts-textiles and iron making, for example –were frequently undermined by cheaper or more prestigious European goods. Modern processing industries developed, as did new ports and administrative centres. A variety of consumer industries sprang up to fill newly created local consumer needs. A feature of the African economy is the side-by-side existence of both subsistence and modern exchange economies. Future growth depends on the availability of investment funds, the world demand for local raw materials, fair world prices for these raw materials, the availability of energy sources, the size of local markets, a solution to the foreign debt problem which is crippling so many African economies, and the willingness of the industrialized economies to reduce trade barriers to processed and manufactured African goods. See Development Economies. 8.3.2 The significant of agriculture in Africa Despite the expansion of commerce and industry, most Africans remain farmers and herders; although the majority of these are producing for the market, at least in a small way, and many are highly market oriented. In northern and north-western Africa, wheat, oats, maize, and barley are the important grain crops. Dates, olives, and citrus fruit are the main tree crops; a variety of vegetables are grown. Goats, asses, sheep, camels, and horses are the most significant livestock kept. In the Sahara region, nomadic herders raise camels and goats, and a few farmers, situated in oases, grow dates and grains. South of the Sahara, in the Sahelian region, and in the most fertile areas north of the coastal forests, slash-and-burn agriculture-a method in which small areas were burned, cleared, and planted and then allowed to revert to bush – has given way to settled farming. Grains, especially maize, sorghum, millet, and rice, are the main crops outside the rainforests. Yams, manioc, okra, plantain, and banana are important crops, especially in the coastal hinterlands and forested areas of central Africa. Cattle cannot be raised in tsetse fly areas and dense forests, cattle are raised; many are still kept for traditional reasons of social prestige and wealth, but commercial stock rearing is increasing. Dairy farming is limited, located primarily around urban centers in eastern and southern Africa. 84 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Although some 60 per cent of all cultivated land is in subsistence or semi subsistence agriculture, commercial or cash-crop farming is common in all parts of the continent. Food stuffs are grown for local urban markets, but cloves, coffee, pineapples, cotton, cacao sugar, tea, maize, rubber, sisal, groundnuts (peanuts), palm oil, and tobacco are among the long-established crops grown by Africans for export. In the past 15years there has been significant development of new export crops, aimed at the high-value end of the western, primarily European market, including green beans, roses and other flowers, and kiwi fruit. For certain traditional African agricultural exports, such as cacao, groundnuts, cloves, and sisal, the continent produces the majority of the world supply. Large scale plantations and farms, often owned by foreign companies or farmers of European descent, and found mainly in eastern and southern Africa, concentrate on citrus, tobacco, tea and other export crops. 8.4 Some Agricultural types in Africa 8.4.1 Forestry and Fishing Although about one-quarter of Africa is covered by forest, much of the timber has little value except as local fuel. Gabon is a major producer of Okoume, a wood used in making plywood; Coted’Ivoire, Liberia (before the civil war), Ghana, and Nigeria are major exporter of hardwoods. Inland fishing is concentrated in the Rift valley lakes and in the increasing numbers of fish farms. Ocean fishing is widespread for local consumption; it is commercially important off Morocco, Mauritania, Namibia, Mozambique, and South Africa. 8.4.2 Mining Mineral extraction provides the bulk of African export earnings, and extractive industries are among the most developed sectors in most African economies. Almost half of Africa’s mineral income comes from South Africa, mainly derived from gold and diamond mining but also from chromium, asbestos, coal, and copper. Other leading mineral-producing countries include Libya (oil), Nigeria (oil, natural gas, coal, tin), Namibia (diamonds, uranium), Algeria (oil, natural gas, iron ore), and Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (copper, cobalt, lead, zinc), Zimbabwe (gold, 85 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents asbestos, coal, chromium, iron ore, and nickel), and Ghana (gold, bauxite, and diamonds). Oil is also found along the western African coast, in the Gabon basin, the Republic of the Congo, and Angola. A significant proportion of uranium mined world-wide comes from Africa, chiefly in south Africa, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the central African Republic, and Gabon. Some 20 per cent of the world’s copper reserves is concentrated in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south Africa, and Zimbabwe. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia also possess about 90 per cent of the world’s known cobalt, and Sierra Leone has the largest known titanium reserves. Africa produces some three quarters of the world’s gold; South Africa, followed by Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ghana, are the major producers. The mines of Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo produce the majority of the world’s gem and industrial diamonds. Iron ore is found in all parts of the continent. Most of Africa’s mineral wealth has been and is being developed by large, multinational corporations (MNCS). Increasingly, in recent years, African governments have become substantial shareholders in the operations within their own countries. 8.5 Factors that Control Agricultural Distribution 8.5.1 Physical factors The physical factors also known as geographical, natural or environmental factors include climate, topography, and soil. (a) Climate: Several climatic factors affect the type and distribution of agriculture in East Africa, but the most significant are rainfall and temperature. Rainfall is the single most dominant weather element influencing the intensity and location of farming systems. Areas that receive high rainfall (over 1000mm) and those that have low evaporation rates are intensively cultivated. In such places the received rainfall has a high effectiveness and reliability. Rainfall effectiveness is 86 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents the actual received in a given place, minus the total possible evaporation. Rainfall is said to be reliable if its deviation from the mean (average) figure does not exceed 20%. A viability of more than 20% implies a great risk to farming and rain-fed agriculture in such circumstances cannot be practiced successfully. Table 8.1 shows the relationship between rainfall characteristics and land use. Temperature is very critical for plant growth because each plant or crop requires a particular minimum growing temperature. Warm temperatures (16-22oc) are better suited to a variety of agricultural practices than extremely high and cold temperatures (250c) increase evapo-transpiration rates thus decreasing moisture available for crop production; and when coupled with high humidity, they become favourable to a variety of insect pests and a higher incidence of plant pathogens. Very few crops (dates) and animals (camel) will survive in regions of extreme temperatures. On the other hand, too low temperatures (10oc) discourage the growth of many crop varieties, cause delays in the maturity of cereal crops such as maize and sorghum and may also lead to crop losses (Awour and Ogola, 1997). Areas of extremely low of high temperature are extensively utilized. Topography’s characteriscs influence the type and intensity of agriculture in (b) Africa. These include: At high altitudes, decreased atmospheric pressure causes big problems, inhibiting human settlements and limiting agricultural activities that can be conducted there. Vegetation growth is restricted and crops take long to mature. Soils too take long to mature as there are fewer mixing agents; humus content takes longer to break down, and leaching is more likely to occur. Moderate to high altitude lands are intensively used (Table 8.1). Dairy farming is an important agricultural activity practiced in such places. Crops like tea and coffee grow best on well-drained hilly slopes and at altitudes of up-to 2000m 87 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents above the sea level. This explains why the slopes of Mt. Kenya and Mt. Meru are intensively cultivated. Lowlands especially those receiving effective and reliable rainfall are some of the most intensively cultivated parts of East Africa world. The level-ness of the ground eases cultivation and makes the use of machinery possible. But lowlands that do not receive adequate rainfall are usually extensively used. Slope also affects agricultural land use. Steep slopes are in most cases not used for agriculture, except in the cases where population pressure has forced farmers to encroach on such land. These are fragile ecosystems. It is true that all soils are prone to erosion but it is also true that erosion is greater on steep slopes than on gentle slopes. Such soils can only become productive if appropriate management strategies are applied. This is because the soils are poorly developed, are thin and hence very vulnerable to erosion. In addition steep slopes pose a serious limitation to the use of machinery. Gently and moderately sloping lands especially the windward sides are intensively used. This is particularly true where adequate rainfall is received and whether means of transport are developed. (c) Soils (edaphic factor) constitute the physical base for any agricultural activity. Soils endowed with a proper combination of texture, salts and humus tend to be very productive, give high yields and are usually intensively cultivated. As soils are so varied in their physical and chemical composition, their suitability for the cultivation of crops varies tremendously. The characteristics of a soil that determine its usefulness include: Soil texture: the texture of a soil influences the ease of cultivation, root penetration, aeration, and absorption. For example, clay soils retain a lot of moisture, are heavy to work and are best suited to wet crops like rice. Sandy soils lack coherence, but are well aerated, and easy to work and are best suited to crops 88 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents like barley, dates, cotton, wheat, maize and pulses. Loamy soils are the most ideal for agriculture. They have sufficient: clay 20 per cent, which helps in moisture and nutrients retention; sand, 40per cent which prevents water logging, allows for adequate aeration and makes them easy to cultivate and silt 40 per cent which acts as an adhesive, holding the sand and clay together. As such they accommodate a wide range of crops and are intensively cultivated. Loam soils are also least susceptible to soil erosion. Soil composition: Apart from their mineral content (influenced by parent rock) soils contain organic matter derived from the decomposition of plants and animals. The higher the organic matter in a soil, the more fertile it is; the higher its resistance to erosion and the more intensively it is utilized. 8.5.2 Cultural and economic factor As noted above, the physical factor plays an important role in determining the agricultural activities practiced in a given area. Socia-cultural and economic factors also play a crucial role in determining the type, intensity and modernization of agriculture. The key socio- economic factors are discussed here below: Cultural and religious beliefs: The most direct consequence of cultural and religious beliefs in agriculture is in the field of animal husbandry. For example, among the pastoralists such as the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, the number of cattle possessed by an individual or family determines their status and prestige within the tribe. As such pastoralists adhere to quantity rather than to quality. Moslems will not engage in pig farming because they consider the pig an unclean animal. In other places farmers retain an animistic view of natural events. Crop yields are thought to be the work of gods and droughts and other natural hazards are accepted. Agriculture in such places remains backward. LAND TENURE: There are three types of land tenure namely:- tenancy; owneroccupier and communal ownership. Under tenancy type of ownership, a farmer 89 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents rents the piece of land that he cultivates. Tenancy takes tow forms namely cash tenancy and sharecropping. Cash tenancy is when a farmer gives as much as 80 per cent of their income or a fixed pre-arranged rent to the landowner. Sharecropping on the other hand is when the farmer gives part of his harvest to the landowner as a payment. Owner-occupier mean that the farmer owns the land he cultivates and he most likely has title deed for the land. Communal ownership implies that the land belongs to the community, and that as long as one is a member of the community, he has every right to the land. Any type of ownership that does not guarantee security of tenure discourages agricultural development. Farmers cannot adopt green revolution farming technologies (such fertilizers, improved seeds, cross breed animals, pesticides and herbicides) or practice sustainable farming techniques on farms that do not fully belong to them. For example nearly all the grazing land in East Africa is commonly owned. As there are restrictions upon the number of animals that can be grazed, the capacity of the land more often than not over-stretched. Most often than not land degradation sets in and within a short time the affected land begins to show signs of desertification as is the use in Central East, Northern Africa for example. Land subdivision and fragmentation: Repeated subdivision resulting from inheritance practices and fragmentation of land holdings affects agriculture adversely. Indeed, as population grows, land holdings continually become smaller and smaller, and more fragmented. For example, in the densely settled parts of East Africa, average farm size equals to or is less than 2 ha, a problem attributed to land subdivision. These farms are not only small but also fragmented and scattered and sometimes in distant different areas. While the small nature of the farms hinders mechanization, fragmentation is time wasting. 90 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Transport: Good transport conditions are an essential prerequisite to agricultural development. Transportation network opens up and links places, enabling the movement of people and goods from one place to another. Regions that are acceptable and well connected are more developed agriculture-wise and are more intensively used than those that are not A well established and efficient transport network is also conducive for the marketing of the bulky and highly perishable agricultural produce such as milk and fresh fruits. Capital: Agriculture is a capital demanding exercise. Unless one has sufficient resources, they cannot engage in successful agriculture. One needs to have land on which farming will be practiced; labour to execute farm operations; a steady and reasonably high income to purchase farm inputs and to finance farm-work. As such, farmers who lack sufficient capital usually practice subsistence farming while the progressive and resource-advantaged farmers undertake commercial agriculture. In Africa, most farmers face a severe capital deficiency. This problem is attributed to the meager income associated with small and fragmented farms. Low incomes means that the farmer’s savings are small too. In turn, small savings implies less or no investment in agriculture. Such farmers cannot adopt green revolution technology. As a result farm yields are low; no surplus is realized and farmers incomes remain low. These types of farmers are actually trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. Lack of capital impedes their transition to commercial agriculture. However, the progressive farmers and especially those in developed countries receive financial support from banking institutions. They therefore have enough capital to engage in commercial agriculture employing capital-intensive methods. 91 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 8.6 Agricultural Types The main types of agriculture practiced in East Africa fall under the following two broad classifications: Subsistence Systems of Agriculture (a) Nomadic pastoralism. (b) Shifting cultivation. (c) Subsistence agriculture (mixed farming). Commercial systems: 1. Livestock ranching. 2. Commercial grain farming. 3. Commercial dairy farming. 4. Plantation agriculture. 5. Horticulture farming. 6. Mixed farming. Subsistence systems of Agriculture. (a) Nomadic pastoralism. Nomadic herding is an extensive form of land use involving largely the rearing of animals and constant or seasonal migration of the nomads and their flocks. It is the simplest form of pastoralism in which herds and flock graze on natural vegetation. Nomadic herding is largely confined to sparsely populated and harsh environments characterized by low, ineffective rainfall, high temperatures and high evaporation rates. In East Africa it is practiced in the semiarid areas including north eastern and south western parts of Kenya; north eastern parts of Tanzania and in the Karamoja area of Uganda. Some of the typical nomadic people in East Africa are the Maasai, Samburu, Rendille, Turkana, Karamojong, Ankol, Sukuma, Gogo and Bahima. 92 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Characteristics of Nomadic Pastoralism Seasonal movements: nomadic herders are constantly on the move searching for pastures and water. The movement could be constant from one pasture to another or from one water hole to another; or it could be of a seasonal nature in which the pastoralists spend their dry season in one place and migrate to the wet areas during the rainy season. The migratory behaviour of the nomads is further enhanced by the presence of a variety of animal diseases such as foot and mouth, anthrax and East coast fever; and also pests especially the tsetse fly. These diseases reduce the health of the animals as well as their productivity. Cattle rustling also contribute to the migratory of the nomads. Large herds of animals are kept. A large herd plays an important role as risk ‘capital’ during periods of prolonged drought and livestock disease outbreaks. When such incidences occur large herds spread thin the risk of the total loss. Large herds also enhances ones social status. In addition large herds are necessary for building social alliances through transfer of animals to friends and kinfolk as loans, especially during times of need. These facts are the major reason behind the immense resistance to the idea of de-stocking. Living structure: The habitation is usually a tent, which can easily be transported or cow-dung build huts. Where true nomadism is practiced, there are no permanent settlements. Land is owned on a communal basis. Indigenous types of animals such as the Boran and Zebu are reared. The average high temperatures (22-27oc) are too high for the exotic breeds of livestock such as the Aberdeen, Frisian and Galloway. In some of the extremely arid places with exceptionally high temperatures like Northern, Central, Eastern Africa. The quality of the animals is low, a fact attributed to the large sizes of herds reared in harsh environments characterized by insufficient pasture. Also the constant movements contribute to weight loss of the animals. 93 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Problems experienced by pastoralists Pastoralists experience a wide variety of problems. Among them are: Droughts Livestock farming forms the main stay of the livelihoods of the nomadic people. These people inhabit harsh environments characterized by a regular occurrence of acute droughts, shortage of water and pastures. Starvation and death of livestock as well as human losses are the main effects of drought on the nomads. Due to the frequent nature of drought in these fragile ecosystems pastorists have evolved coping strategies to circumvent the consequences of droughts. These include: Herd maximization: Large herds are kept as some insurance during periods of drought. Nomads are never eager to sell their livestock. But during a drought period more livestock than is normal is sold to minimize the number of losses. Slaughter of the young kids and lambs. During the time of a severe drought, the newly born lambs and kids are slaughtered. This is done to increase the chance of survival of the mother. Mobility: pastoralists move with their stock to alternative grazing areas during severe drought periods. The number and distance of movement in any year depends on environmental conditions., the quality and quantity of resources and the species of livestock. For example, during the 1984 and 2000 droughts, the Maasai pastoralists moved to Nairobi (urban and peri-urban) in search of pasture and water. This is the case all over Africa. Elsewhere during the 1999/2000 drought, herds in Northern Kenya moved their livestock to southern Ethiopia, Bulo area and sibiloi National reserve. Sometimes desperate pastoralists invade or encroach onto land owned by sedentary farmers a problem, which has been a source of conflicts between pastorists and crop farmers. 94 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 8.7 Summary The African possesses a diversified agricultural practices and a range of environmental factors which do determine any variety of agricultural types according to various African regions. Socio-economic factors go hand in hand with environmental conditions, influencing the distribution of agricultural practices in different regions of Africa. A part from all above, it is very important to note that agriculture is the backbone of the African development and economy which play a very important role in the regional development. 8.8 Revision Questions a) Describe the three main factors that make agricultural practices differ on the African continent. b) Discuss why the East African region is agriculturally potential. c) Assess the role of agriculture in economic growth in Africa. d) What do you understand by extensive land-use. 8.9 Further Reading a) W. J. Minus (1991) A geography of Africa. b) Richard White (1990) Africa in focus, A physical, Human and economic Geography. c) World Bank (2004) African Development Indicators 2004: From the World Bank database Washington D C. d) Robert W. July (1975) Pre-Colonial Africa: An Economic and Social History. 95 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 9.0 9.1 LESSON NINE: AFRICAN INDUSTRY AND TRADE Introduction This lesson describes the levels of industrial status and manufacturing as an economical activity in the African continent. The main factors determining the location of some industries and their significance to the economic development are highlighted. Various industrial types over the continent are discussed 9.2 Learning objectives By the end of this lesson, you should be able to. (a) Describe industrial status and development in Africa (b) Discuss the main factors that influence the industries location. (c) Assess the significance of industries in the economic development in Africa. (d) Explain the different types of trade practiced in Africa. 9.3 The Trend of Industry and Trade In Africa Comparing developed or industrialized Nations Africa is not yet an industrialized continent, although today it possesses a single region( the south coast of Africa), that marches in size and range with large industrial world regions such as the Donates Basin of Russia, the Ruhr, the Pitts burg, etc along the temperate latitudes in East and West (e.g. north America, Europe, Asia etc) In other parts of Africa, there are few pockets of industry, that serve the countries where they are situated (WJ.Minnus, 1991). But it is noted that after the world war two the Africa’s main resource was the land property. Traditionally, the vast majority of Africans have been farmers and herders who raised crops and livestock for subsistence. Manufacturing and crafts were generally carried on as Part- 96 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents time activities. Most markets were local, although numerous states over the centuries developed long distance trade system, and in these places complex exchange facilities as well as industrial specialization, communication Networks and elaborate governmental structures maintained the flow of commerce. They included the medieval West African Kingdoms and empires of Ghana, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu; and of great Zimbabwe in South Africa; trans- Saharan trade, which began before the Romans continued until well into the 19th century. Gold slaves (on small scale), kola, copper, kola nuts, ostrich feathers, and salt were all items in Africa’s export trade for many hundreds of years before the advent of Europeans. With Europeans, initially, there came increased demand for one of the traditional staples of African trade- slaves (see Slavery in the modern period). The numbers required, however, were vastly more than had ever been traded before, leading to distortions and disruptions in African politics and society, and robbing the west and center of the continent of millions of people. Colonization brought overseas demand for new agricultural and mineral products and internal labour migration; new and faster communication systems were constructed; European technology and crops were introduced, not always, by any means, beneficially, and modern exchange economy evolved. Local industry and crafts- textiles and iron making, for example- were frequently undermined by cheaper or more prestigious European goods. Modern processing industries developed, as did more ports and administrative centers. A variety of consumer industries sprung up to fill newly created local consumer needs. A feature of the African economy is the side-byside existence of both subsistence and modern exchange economies. Future growth depends on the availability of investment funds, the world demand for local raw materials, the availability of energy sources, the size of local markets, a solution to the foreign debt problem which is crippling so many African economies, and the willingness of industrialized economies to reduce trade barriers to processed and manufactured African goods. 9.4 Manufacturing types generally The term “manufacture” generally involves the conversion of resource materials into either chemical or physical for utilizational purposes to humanities. 97 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Manufacturing performs three functions as follows: 1. Processing 2. Assembly 3. Repair First functions serve to distinguish between Agriculture and industry. Secondly manufacturing differs from Agriculture in that the latter is a real activity, while the former is a punctiform i.e. manufacturing has a point location and thus demands far less land per employee than is the case in Agriculture. More often than not the locations are usually urban based. Industries fall into four main categories as indicated below: (i) Primary industries – these deal with the extraction of raw materials directly from the earth or sea. Example are farming, fishing forestry and mining. (ii) Secondary industries- these process and manufacture primary products. Local examples include crude oil refining, food processing, Tobacco Curing, vehicle assembly, cement etc. (iii) Tertiary industries- provides a service; these include health education tourism trade and transport. (iv) Quaternary industries- provide information and expertise, these include the new microchip and micro-electronic industries. Some resource materials or types meant for manufacturing such as; agriculture, fishing, forestry and mining products are in most cases not directly consumable; various degrees of processing are required to meet human needs of these products. Thus manufacturing industry is concerned with the changing of materials from raw into consumable form. In this respect inputs to the manufacturing unit arrive from agriculture or mining and the outputs depart to families or similar consumers. Some manufacturing however uses already manufactured products as the inputs, assembles them, or generally increases their usefulness and subsequently sells the new product to their either another manufacturer or to the final consumer. Manufactured goods are 98 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents more useful and valuable than the original raw materials from which they are made. For example timber is converted into furniture, construction materials, pulp and paper. A ¼ of Africa is covered by forests, but timber is less valued except for local fuel consumption. Gabon for example is a major producer of okuome- a wood used in making plywood, cote devoir, Liberia (just before the civil war) Ghana Nigeria etc are known as major exporters of hard woods fishing is concentrated in inland lakes of the rift valley especially in the eastern part of Africa including other lakes where the increasing numbers of fish farms are found. In the oceans fishing is wide spread. But in South Africa Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia and off morocco fishing is commercially significant even for other nations outside Africa. 9.5 Factors controlling the site of manufacturing industries Large or small scale manufacturing, like any other economic activities can only develop under a meaningful set of circumstances like the proper proximity consideration of various factors favourable for industries (W.S. Minns, 1991). For example, location of industries is not done arbitrarily. Several factors are taken into consideration before a decision to locate an industry in a given place is made. Some of these factors are explained here below: 9.5.1 Raw Materials The basis of the manufacturing process is the conversion of an existing product into a more useful or valuable form. Thus raw materials are very important for the manufacturing industry. Raw materials differ in terms of weight, bulkiness and perishability. What is most crucial to an industrialist is the cost of accumulating raw materials at a particular location. Some industries (e.g. sugarcane, cement, soda, ash, - in East Africa for example), use large amounts of heavy and bulky raw materials. In this case the cost of the transporting the raw material is higher than that of the finished product. Ordinarily such industries are located near the source of the raw material. If the raw material is highly perishable breakable or fragile (e.g. fruits) than the finished product the industry is located near the source of the raw material. These are what referred to as raw material oriented industries. However, if the raw materials are small in quantity, light in 99 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents weight or of high value (e.g. gold, diamond and ruby) transport costs may be low and a raw material location will not be necessary. In the latter case the cost of the manufactured product is high enough to pay for the transportation and processing of the raw materials. 9.5.2 Available Markets It is important for the finished products to reach the consumer on time. Since the products cannot be delivered to the consumers at their doorstep, the industry can be located near or at an urban centre where people can access it. However, markets are not just a question of numbers, but also of earning capacity of the populations and of their willingness to spend. Unless a population can make effective demand of the products then industries cannot develop. Some types of industries are more market oriented than others. These are the industries dealing with perishable finished products (e.g. industries producing bread, cakes, dairy products); fragile finished products (e.g. bottled drinks, glassware); goods that are bulk and of a low value (brick making and tile-making industries); industries that involve much personal contact with customers (packaging industries, tailoring, printing and publishing); industries producing raw material for other industries (automobile component manufacturing) and industries requiring small quantities of raw materials. 9.5.3 Transport Networks The availability of a good network of transport is another deciding factor in the location of industries. Raw materials must be moved to the industries and the finished products must be dispatched to the markets. Thus a prospective industrialist must take into consideration the cost of transportation. Unlike in the developed world where transport and communication networks are well established and in most cases transport costs are not only relatively low but also form a very insignificant fraction of the total production cost; in Africa means of transport and communication network are poorly developed. As a result freight charges are very high and usually take up a big share of the cost of production. Under such circumstances transport becomes an important deciding factor to be taken into consideration before one makes up their mind about the place where to locate their industry. Thus an industry will be located where the cost of assembling raw materials and the cost of distributing the finished goods to the market put together is lowest. 100 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents The economic development of virtually all African nations has been hindered by inadequate transport systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are frequently composed largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the rainy seasons. Road and rail networks built during the colonial era tended to link the interior of a country to the coast; few provided cross-country links internally, or links with adjacent countries. Since independence, however of important trans-African routes have been built providing road and rail links, notably for the landlocked countries. Most African nations support a national airline and there has been much improvement in recent years in coordinating timetabling. Rail and shipping systems are best developed in Southern Africa. 9.5.4 Local Supply of Labour An adequate labour force is essential in the initiation and continuance of an industry. But the actual number of people required in an industry varies between different industries. Obviously capital-intensive industries will require less labour. The question a prospective industrialized should ask themselves is: what type of labour do we need? Some industries demand specialized and highly skilled workforce (watch-making, diamond cutting, and aircraft manufacturing industries). Such skilled labour demands high salaries and good working conditions. Btu the good thing about skilled labour is that it is highly mobile and can move to the industries once given the assurance that its demands will be met. Other industries require semiskilled labour. The semi-skilled workers are fairly mobile especially in countries where their demand is high. However, the bulk of labour force in most industries consists of unskilled workers. These are the least moveable because the demand for their skills are low except in the developed countries. In the developing countries, unskilled labour is abundant and in most cases the supply exceeds demand, hence the low salaries/wages awarded to this group of worker. But due to the increasing shortage of employment opportunities, unskilled labourers are now assuming a certain degree of mobility. It is also worth noting that labour can easily be transported to any part of a country where it is demanded. 9.5.5Starting Capital Without capital, industries cannot be set up. Capital is required to purchase land, where the industry will be set up, raw materials, office equipment and build offices; to hire labour as 101 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents well as for promotion of the finished products. The initial capital outlay can be enormous although this will depend on the type of the industry being set up. But availability of capital may not be a strong location factor. This is because capital is very mobile, people will invest where there are possible rewards regardless of the nature of the physical environments. Capital is however very crucial in determining the prosperity of an industry. We have heard of cases where industries have been closed down because the available capital has been mismanaged or misappropriated. 9.5.6 Political Policy Governments play an important role in the location and development of industries in a country. Through policy formulation, governments can encourage or discourage the development of industries in a country or in a certain region within the country. For example it can decide where the industries will be located through decentralization policies in countries where industries have been concentrated in one or a few areas of the country. This may be done in order to open up the underdeveloped parts of the country and to reduce overcrowding in some parts of the country. Governments may also have clear-cut policies discouraging the setting up of industries in certain parts of the country. Fro example it would not be wise to set up any other industries in National parks except tourism-related ones. 9.5.7 Operational Energy All industries require power for manufacturing processes. Natural gas, petroleum and electricity are the main types of power used in the production of energy for industrial purposes in Africa. These forms of energy are easily transmitted through high-tension wires or by tankers or pipelines to industrial sites. Thus, power is not a strong location factor in Africa. It is important note that power was a strong location factor when coal was the only source of power. Because coal was heavy and bulk and hence expensive to transport, industries had to be located within a short radious of the coalfield. That’s why most of the industries in Germany where concentrated within coal producing areas such the Ruhr coalfield which is also the Rugr industrial area. 102 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 9.5.8 Trade Traditional industrial areas usually have a strong pull factor and continue to attract new industries because of third well-established economies of scale. Such economies of scale include:- good transport and communication network, available markets, availability of certain skills, cheap storage facilities, affordable construction costs etc. The failure of an industry to move from one are to another when, locational advantages and disadvantages change is called industrial inertia. Prospective industrialists would enjoy better economies of scale by locating their business for example within already established like Johanneburg, Cairo, Lagos, Lusaka industrial centers. 9.5.9 Industrial will (inertia) The economies of most African stats rely heavily on one or a few export commodities. The bulk of trade occurs with industrialized nations, which requires raw material and sell industrial and consumer goods. Trade between African stats is limited by the competitive, rather than complementary, nature of their products and (to a decreasing extent) by trade barriers, such as tariffs and the diversity of currencies, and the fact that most are not “hard:. That is they are legal tender only within their own countries, so most trade is carried out in US dollars or pounds steering. Most former colonies in Africa continue to have loose trade relations with the United Kingdom and keep monetary reserves in London. Most former French colonies have maintained closer ties with France, and the majority are members of the Franc Zone. In addition, most African states have economic community of Centre African States, the most successful are the Southern African Development Community and he common market for astern and southern Africa. The organization of African unity also promotes intra-African trade and economic development. African is also known for the material products. These include: (A) Energy Some countries such as Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, and Angola are major world producers of oil, and several other African Countries are also oil exporters, including Gabon. Africa’s natural –gas exports are centered in Algeria. Coal production is concerted mainly in Zimbambwe and South Africa, although many other countries have sizeable reserves (such as Botswana), which awaits development because of a lack of markets. The bulk of Africa coal production is used 103 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents internally. Most Africa countries must import fuels, especially petroleum and oil. The oil price rises of the 1970s were disastrous for many of them, precipitating many of the balance of payments and debt problems which undermined their economies in the 1980s and early 1990s. Although Africa has some 40 pr cent of the world hydroelectric power potential, only a relatively small portion ha been developed owing to high construction costs, inaccessibility of sites, and their distance from markets. Since the 1950s, however, a number of the world largest hydroelectric installations have been built in Africa; these include the Aswan high Dam on the River Nile, the Volta Dam on the River Volta, and the Kariba and Cabora dams on the Zambezi, the huge Highlands water scheme under construction in Lesotho also has a hydroelectric power component. (B) Mining Mineral extraction provides the bulk of African export earnings, and extractive industries are among the most developed sectors in most African economies,. Almost half of Africa’s mineral income comes from chromium, asbestos, coal and copper. Other lading mineralproducing countries include Libya (oil) Nigeria (oil, natural gas , coal , tin), Namibia (diamonds, uranium) Algeria (oil, natural gas, iron ore) and Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (copper, cobalt, lad, zinc), Zimbabwe (gold, asbestos, coal, chromium, iron ore, and nicke) and Ghana (gold, bauxite and diamonds). Oil is also found along the Western African coast, in the Gabon basin, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. A significant production of Uranium mind world-wide comes from African, chiefly in South Africa, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Gabon. The largest radium supply in the world is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some 20 pr cent of the world’s copper reserves is concentrated in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia also posses about 90per cent of the world known cobalt, and Sierra Leone has the largest known titanium reserves. Africa produces some three- quarters of the world gold; South Africa, followed by Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ghana, are the major producers. The mines of Botswana, south Africa, Namibia, Angola and the Democratic 104 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Republic of the Congo produce the majority of the worlds gem and industrial diamonds. Iron ore is found in all parts of the continent. Most of Africa’s mineral wealth has been and is being developed by large, multinational corporations (MNC0. Increasingly, in recent years, African governments have become substantial shareholders in the operations within their own countries. 9.10 African Industrialization Any industrial and economic development depend upon the basic satisfactory needs of power or energy skills technology necessary raw materials a basic requirements. But because of thee, industrialization in Africa has been rather a slow process. The industrial sector, which is in its early stages of development is dominated by light industries, which deal with the processing of agricultural raw materials such as coffee, tea, sisal, cloves, sugar cane and pyrethrum. These are basically simple processing industries, which do not require heavy capital investments or very advanced technological and skilled labour. As such the manufactured goods especially the ones for export have not contributed significantly to the economic growth t of the region. The growth of manufactured goods exports is not rally impressive and a big chunk of the income finances food imports rather than capital goods hat African desperately needs. African lacks heavy industries especially those that require bulky and expensive raw materials such as iron and steel; and which produce high value products. This situation is explained by the fact that: (a) Africa is poorly endowed with high quality minerals, and cheap energy resources. The region lacks important minerals such as iron, steel and oil, and energy resources such as petroleum, nuclear, fuel, natural gas, and coal, which are important components in the manufacturing industries. (b) Over the years the economic growth of the region has been very slow; African has a large population is unfortunate that this population cannot guarantee market for the manufactured goods. Fr example, a large number of farmers cannot afford a plough and continue using a hoe, which is not only slow but cultivates a small area per day than a plough would. On the other hand, diminutive economic growth implies modest 105 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents savings and investment and inability of the region to purchase capital and technology that Africa lacks. 9.11 Significant of the manufacturing industry One of the major importance of manufacturing industry is to boost the economic development of Africa, as well as economic growth in all sector of economy. This means: (i) Industrial growth is cumulative and can stimulate progress in other sectors of the economy. For instance, fertilizers are industrial products, which if well used in the improvement of impoverished soils will not only improve the soils fertility but also enhance agricultural productivity and consequently improve food security in the region. (ii) Where industry is concerned with the processing of commodities for export, it increase foreign exchange by increasing the value of the commodities. (iii) Where raw materials are found locally, the finished products are less expensive than their imported substitutes. (iv) Industrial sector could surplus population in the agricultural sector and at the same time improve the marginal productivity of the people left behind. 9.12 Summary Africa has different types (small in scale and range) of industries that are determined by the locational factors range of raw material availability labour, country’s regimes etc. Some parts of Africa have adequate agricultural outputs in terms of trade to other continents, but still industries are not well developed. This is so because of unevenly distribution of environmental conditions (like climate, soils etc) at times proper skills of farming and marketing thus, causing low export values. 106 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 9.13 Revision questions (a) Describe the main industrial types in Africa (b) Discuss any three factor that influence the industrial location (c) Explain the functions of international trades and their benefits in each country (d) Assess the role of manufacturing sector in economic development (e) How do you understand the term industrial scale? 9.14 Further Reading (a) World Bank (1989): Sub-Sahara Africa; From crisis to sustainable Development, A long-term perspective study, Washington D.C. (b) W.J. Minus (1991) A geography of Africa. (c) World Bank (2001) African Development indicators 2001: From the World bank Date base, Washington D.C 107 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents 10.0 10.1 LESSON TEN: TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION IN AFRICA Introduction This lesson examines the transport and communication networks within and adjacent the African Continent. The evaluation of the present communication between major African cities and urban settings is highlighted. The role and importance of transport systems has been described. Some major problems facing transport and communication developed are examined. 10.2 Objectives By the end of this lesson you should be able to: (a) Examine the role of transport and communication in economic development in Africa. (b) Explain the present status of transport and communication and their implications in the development. (c) Describe major transport networks and types within the African Continent. (d) Evaluate at least some main problems facing the development of transport networks in Africa. 10.3 Status of transport and communication in Africa W.J. Minns (1991), explains that: For economic development in any nation there must be proper transport and communication for the nation’s export of produce. 108 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents In this case therefore the produce need to be transported or exported to other market points suing for example: Roads Railways Airways Other means of transport With this in mind therefore, transport simply means the movement of goods or people form one point to another for a purpose – i.e. for example economic gains. But communication refers to the passing of some necessary information from one person to another through present technological means – i.e. for example, telephone, media, letters etc. These two aspects (transport and communication systems) seem to be very fundamental factors of people’s development, since they do promote spatial interactions that permit human beings and points to specialize in terms of check-points and exchange of market products. Here we need to provide: Adequate transport network. Proper communication facilities Specialization within human society who are interdependent. Appropriate transporting good. Reliable services. Long lasting ideas in the trading industry. Well connected points or centres. Market to market accessibility and remarkable seasonalities at all times in a year. 109 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents For goods to be exported from one place to the next, the ports and loading and unloading facilities must require enough and adequate space for example for railways to access the quaysides as well as for storage facilities (W.J. Minns, 1991). Also in the transporting systems it is considered that when the product is completely valuable and lighter then the same may be transported by air plains, in this roads, railways lines need to be connected with respective large enough airports to handle heavy cargo plains. Transport and communication system developments, in the proper economic development planning the following are alongside considered. Efficient riverine transport system connection Total transport infrastructure is very essential. 10.4 Background Significant of Transport and Communication network for economic development Because Transport and communication means, for a long time human societies have done good exchanges land trades through various services. This means various transport modes have been developed as well used. Earlier man and animal porterage were developed and used, where goods were carried on people’s heads, shoulders, the back which is still found in some societies today. But this proved too slow and inefficient as days went on. These included: Message sending by voices. Smoke signals. Drumming modes Goods sent through village carrier societies (special persons). 110 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents This was so because people were specially restricted and isolated to self-sufficient communities that lived a part form each other. To-day with science and technology improvement, there enough and efficient, effective means of transport plus communication facilities. These for example include: All weather roads. Railways lines. Air transport Ship transport Boats Telephone Faxes Transport and communication network is important for economic development in any area because it: Assists to reduce wastage of goods and able services. Eager passing at goods form one region to the other. Takes shorter times reducing long distances. Provides linkages of regions creating new opportunities within various communities. Improves and develops for example tourism industry – connecting different communities. Develops new innovations in science and technology among societal ideas through better or modern world understanding. Trade promotion in internal/external industries. In general, the economic development of virtually all African nations has been hindered by inadequate transport systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are frequently composed largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the rainy seasons. Road and rail networks built during the colonial era tended to link the interior of a country to the coast; few provided cross-country links internally, or links with adjacent countries. Since independence, however, a number of important trans-African routes have 111 Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents been built providing road and rail links, notably for the landlocked countries. Most African nations support a national airline and there has been much improvement in recent years in coordinating timetabling. Rail and shipping systems are best developed in South Africa. 10.5 Summary It is well recognised or considered that effective and sufficient transport and communication networks are crucial for any economic development. In Africa, transport and communication systems are far inefficient and unevenly distributed those results to inadequate services such as transport and communication systems are mostly concentrated within urban settings, however with limited facilities. And because of these, therefore the economic development processes are rather slow. The potentially areas of Africa are economically dormant with foreign exploitation in terms of resources being focussed or diverted to other nations. 10.6 Revision Questions (a) Explain the importance of transport and communication in economic development. (b) Examine the status of transport and communication network in Africa. (c) Discuss the disadvantages of inadequate of transport and communication for development. (d) Describe any two external influences that make the transport and communication of Africa inadequate. 10.7 Further Reading (a) Richard White (1990): Africa; In Focus: A Physical, Human and Economic Geography. (b) W.J Minns (1991): A Geography of Africa. (c) A.T. Grove (1970): Africa, South of the Sahara. 112
